Rape suspect living in migrant camp
He is bailed and sent to base where fellow asylum seeker is accused of harassment
A CHANNEL migrant has been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman weeks after arriving in Britain aboard a small boat.
The alleged sex attack took place at a hotel in London where the man was living at taxpayers’ expense.
The suspect, who is said to be from Sudan, was arrested by police on November 8 and later released on bail.
After his release, he was sent to live at the former Napier Barracks near Folkestone, Kent, which has been converted to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers.
In a separate incident, another migrant housed at the barracks has been arrested for alleged sexual harassment of a female charity worker.
The 30-year-old was arrested this week over claims that he sent explicit messages and images to the victim. He has been allowed out on bail and is still living at the camp.
A source at the former Army base said it ‘beggared belief’ that the two migrants were there on bail.
The source added: ‘The Sudanese man has entered the country illegally and now been accused of an incredibly serious crime.
‘He should be in custody until the matter is resolved. Instead he’s living in quite a comfortable base where people can come and go, just by signing in and out.’
The source said of the sexual harassment allegation: ‘Everyone is really shocked that he was apparently targeting a charity worker. But again, he has been sent back rather than being held, which seems very risky.
‘There is nothing to stop these two making a run for it and never being found.’
The accusations will reignite concerns that migrants are able to enter the UK without border officials being able to make adequate checks on their criminal records. Many migrants are told by people traffickers to lie about their names, nationalities and ages to increase the chances of making a successful asylum claim.
Last week MPs were told that some migrants have mutilated themselves to disguise their own fingerprints, so they cannot be cross-referenced on a European Union biometrics database that logs previous asylum claims in other countries.
A protest broke out at the base last week with detainees chanting ‘freedom’ and complaining about cramped conditions.
Rooms at the centre are fitted with flat- screen TVs and an onsite canteen serves up three meals a day. Computer game consoles are available to migrants and they also have access to a gym.
It is understood migrants are given pay- as- you- go mobiles, loaded with free credit, as well as supermarket vouchers.
A source said: ‘It is more of a holiday camp than a detention base. The money being spent on the whole operation is absolutely mind-boggling.
‘But there are always fights. They’ve had to bring in dozens and dozens of security guards to keep the peace.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We take the safety and wellbeing of everyone staying in Home Office accommodation and the local communities in which they live extremely seriously. We are fixing our broken asylum system to make it firm and fair.
‘We will seek to stop abuse of the system while ensuring it is compassionate towards those who need our help, welcoming people through safe and legal routes.’
A Kent Police spokesman said of the incident at the camp: ‘Just before 3.55pm on Wednesday November 18, Kent Police officers attended an address in Sandgate, Folkestone, and arrested a man on suspicion of harassment.
‘ The 30- year- old has been
‘He should be in custody’
released on bail pending further inquiries.’
Last month Home Office officials told MPs 9,500 migrants had been placed in about 100 hotels around the country on full board.
The rooms were booked as part of a pandemic contingency plan to house asylum seekers who could not be sent to self-catering accommodation.
The campaign group Migration Watch UK, which wants tougher border controls, estimated that the number being housed in hotels could now be as high as 12,000 and put the cost to the taxpayer in the tens of millions. The number of migrants crossing the Channel from northern France has rocketed despite the Home Secretary’s pledge a year ago that they would be an ‘infrequent phenomenon’ by now.
So far this year more than 8,500 migrants have made the perilous crossing compared with 1,850 the whole of last year.
On October 27 a Kurdish-Iranian couple and their three children aged nine, six and 15 months drowned when a boat carrying 17 other migrants capsized off the French coast in treacherous conditions.