Police give immigration status of rape victims to Home Office

RAPE and burglary victims are being handed over to the Home Office for deportation, figures show.

More than half of the 45 police forces in the UK are passing on information about the immigration status of crime victims to officials, according to a study by the BBC, despite an earlier decision to stop similar information being handed to the Home Office by the NHS.

In one case, an illegal immigrant fled into the street from her partner who was reportedly treating her like a slave.

After a savage beating – reported to the police by a member of the public – she needed hospital treatment. But she was later taken to a deportation centre because of her illegal status.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The circumstances in which the Home Office requests data from the NHS changed after careful consideration of the concerns raised by the health and social care select committee and the specific sensitivities around data sharing with the NHS.

“The sharing of information between Immigration Enforcement [a government agency] and police is vital to both tackling immigration offences and protecting vulnerable people, for instance, keeping unaccompanied migrant children safe.”