A woman who reported being kidnapped and raped has been arrested on immigration charges while receiving care at a specialist sexual assault centre in London. The victim, who was five months pregnant at the time, attended an east London police station in March to report the alleged ordeal, which she said occurred in Germany between September 2016 and March 2017.
Officers took her to one of the three Havens sexual assault centres in the capital, run by King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and jointly funded by NHS England and the Metropolitan Police. However, she was subsequently arrested at the centre and taken to a police station for questioning over her immigration status.
A spokeswoman for King's College Hospital said the trust had objected to the police's actions. 'Providing patients with appropriate care in a safe environment is our top priority,' she said. 'Following the arrest of a patient at the Haven, we formally raised concerns with the Metropolitan police about the appropriateness of this setting for such action.'
A Met Police spokeswoman confirmed that the woman, in her 20s, told officers at the time of reporting that she had entered the country illegally. She was issued a letter of temporary admission, requiring her to report regularly to an immigration officer. Detectives from the Met's child abuse and sexual offences unit referred the allegations of rape and kidnap to German authorities.
The case highlights a sharp rise in police tip-offs to the Home Office about victims and witnesses of crime. Figures obtained by Politics.co.uk show such referrals increased from 634 in 2014 to 3,372 in 2015, coinciding with the introduction of a 'hostile environment' policy for illegal migrants under Theresa May.
Fizza Qureshi, director of the Migrants' Rights Network, said: 'It is shocking and incredibly upsetting to hear of a rape victim treated as a criminal rather than getting the care and support she needs. There must be avenues of safe reporting for all victims regardless of their immigration status.'
