❓WHAT HAPPENED: A Kurdish migrant was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a teenager in a park weeks after arriving in Britain.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Mehmet Ogur, a 27-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker, and his 18-year-old victim.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The crime occurred last year in a park in Tamworth, Staffordshire, and sentencing took place at Stafford Crown Court, England.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Your continued stay in the United Kingdom will be for others to determine, not for me,” said Judge John Edwards
🎯IMPACT: The case highlights concerns over the mismanagement of poorly vetted asylum seekers arriving in Britain on small boats, and the threat they pose to public safety.
A Kurdish migrant who arrived in Britain by boat has been jailed for seven years after being convicted of raping an 18-year-old in a park just weeks after entering the country. Mehmet Ogur was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of rape and attempted rape following a trial last summer. The court heard that Ogur had been living at a hotel in Tamworth, Staffordshire, at taxpayers’ expense when he carried out his crimes.
Prosecutors said Ogur met the victim after communicating with her on Snapchat. Following the attack, police recovered messages sent by Ogur that were described as a “full and complete” admission of what he had done. Ogur still denied the charges and claimed the meaning of his messages had been changed by Google Translate, but the jury rejected his explanation.
Passing sentence, Judge John Edwards said the offence had caused “immense harm” to the victim. Addressing Ogur, the judge added, “Your continued stay in the United Kingdom will be for others to determine, not for me.”
The case adds to wider scrutiny over criminal offences involving migrants entering Britain illegally by small boat and housed in taxpayer-funded accommodation. Recent reporting has highlighted numerous cases in which migrants living in hotels across the country have been charged with serious crimes, including rape and sexual assault.
Some other recent cases involving boat migrants that have drawn public attention include the conviction of an Afghan migrant who threatened to kill Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, and a migrant sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison after his offending had sparked riots.
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