Siobhan Whyte, the mother of Rhiannon Whyte who was stabbed to death by a failed asylum seeker, has told the Sunday Express that a probe into Labour's deportation crisis makes her 'even angrier about the state of our borders'. At least 100,000 failed asylum seekers are feared to be living in Britain illegally because they have not been removed despite losing all their appeals.
Labour's deportation failure revealed
Home Office figures show that 2,000 people who first sought sanctuary in 2010 are still in the UK, and more than 26,000 have been here for at least a decade despite losing their cases. Separate figures published this week suggested there are more than 400,000 migrants living in the UK illegally, including failed asylum seekers, absconders, and people overstaying their visas.
According to research by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, 108,022 people refused protection after claiming asylum between 2010 and 2024 have not been removed. The true number is almost certainly higher because the data only goes back to 2010.
Mother's fury at government inaction
Siobhan Whyte told the Sunday Express: 'They are in denial with it all. If they've lost count, how are we supposed to know? We need to know who is coming into our country. We need to know their criminal backgrounds because they may have committed crimes in their own countries.'
She added: 'They've been through all these other countries and they are coming here. If they are detained at the border, they can be turned back. If they are genuine asylum seekers, they would have documentation. It is the illegal ones who are throwing their documentation away. Why? They don't want to be detected.'
'It makes me even angrier about the state of our borders. Shabana Mahmood etc is giving millions to France and they are still coming in. Why? Why are they allowed?'
Rhiannon Whyte's murder
Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek stabbed mother-of-one Rhiannon 23 times in a frenzied 90-second attack after following the 27-year-old to Bescot Road railway station in Walsall in 2024. She died in hospital three days later. No motive has been established for why Majek attacked her. Majek had arrived in the UK on a small boat about three months before the attack and applied for asylum. He was jailed for 29 years in January.
Ms Whyte added: 'I have no confidence in this Government at all. I have reached out to Starmer. I have reached out to Shabana Mahmood and I'm just being ignored. I won't be silenced.'
