❓WHAT HAPPENED: British Ministry of Justice (MOJ) data reveals a quarter of jailed foreign sex offenders in England and Wales come from just five countries.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Foreign nationals from Romania, Pakistan, Poland, Ireland, and India.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Data pertains to prisoners in England and Wales as of June.
💬KEY QUOTE: “This is yet more evidence that migrants from some nationalities are more likely to commit certain crimes.” – Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Robert Jenrick
🎯IMPACT: The data highlights concerns over foreign nationals’ involvement in serious crimes, prompting calls for transparency and action.
Recent figures from the British Ministry of Justice (MOJ) show that a large proportion of foreign nationals imprisoned for sexual offences in England and Wales come from just five countries. The first analysis of prisoners’ crimes by nationality reveals that offenders from Romania, Pakistan, Poland, Ireland, and India make up 457 of the 1,731 foreign sex offenders behind bars as of June. Together, they represent around one in four of all jailed foreign sex offenders.
On a per capita basis, Bangladeshi migrants are by far the most likely to be imprisoned for sex crimes, with over 42 percent of those in British prisons convicted of sexual offenses. Kenyans are behind them at 37 percent, followed by Sudanese, Ethiopians, and Eritreans.
The total number of foreign nationals imprisoned for sex crimes has risen by 9.9 percent in the past year, compared with a 3.8 percent increase in British offenders convicted of similar offences. The data, released following a Freedom of Information request, comes amid growing public concern about serious crimes, including sexual crimes, committed by migrants, and the handling of foreign national offenders by the authorities. For instance, Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu, deported after being convicted of a series of sexual assaults in Essex, England, drew national attention when it was revealed that the Home Office paid him several hundred pounds to comply with his deportation order. Kebatu, whose crimes sparked anti-mass migration protests and riots, had previously been released from prison in error and let loose among the public again, leading to a national manhunt.
Other recent cases have also further fuelled public anger. In London, an Egyptian-born asylum seeker who entered the UK illegally was convicted of raping a woman in Hyde Park; he was later found to have a previous conviction in Egypt for plotting terrorist attacks. In Manchester, a Syrian who carried out a terrorist attack against a synagogue turned out to be on bail for an alleged rape when he struck.
Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, remarked that the public deserves full transparency about the nationality of offenders and the Labour Party government’s management of their cases. “This is yet more evidence that migrants from some nationalities are more likely to commit certain crimes,” he said, calling for the Ministry of Justice to publish all related data.
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