A Home Office guidebook issued to asylum seekers warns them not to rape, beat or subjugate British women, in what one commentator calls the first official admission that those arriving illegally come from cultures at odds with Britain.
Writing for Express.co.uk, Giles Sheldrick argues that the guidance proves that fears about immigration – dismissed for years as racist scaremongering – were justified. The pamphlet, handed to everyone who arrives, lays out the “rules and expectations” of living in the UK and is published amid a series of appalling attacks by asylum seekers, Sheldrick writes.
Home Office booklet warns against rape and domestic abuse
The document warns: “If you have sex with someone without their consent, this is called rape. Rape is a serious crime in the UK.” It also states that it is illegal to have sex with someone under the age of 16, adding: “There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if they say yes, it is still illegal.”
Physical violence, threats and controlling behaviour are described as forms of domestic abuse and amount to a serious crime. The booklet, presumably translated into multiple languages, is the first hard-form official admission that those who arrive illegally come from societies and cultures completely at odds with Britain, Sheldrick writes.
Government acknowledges pressure on communities
The Home Office, run by Shabana Mahmood who earlier this year said “illegal migration has been placing immense pressure on communities”, says in the document: “We understand that coming to a new country can be difficult, and that laws and customs here may be different from your home country. This booklet will help you understand what is expected of you when living in the UK. These rules and expectations are not just for people seeking asylum, they apply to everyone living here.”
Last year 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK on dinghies – 34,201 of them men – and most went on to claim asylum. The largest nationalities among Channel migrant arrivals were Eritreans with just over 7,600, Afghans (4,800), Iranians (4,400), Sudanese (4,400) and Somalis (3,800). Last week a record 230 turned up on a single dinghy.
Attacks by asylum seekers cited
In October last year Abdulla Ahmadi and Ibrahim Alshafe, both 26, along with Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, attacked a woman on Brighton beach. All were living in a Home Office hotel in Horsham, West Sussex, having crossed the Channel illegally. In January, Ahmadi, from Iran, and Alshafe, from Egypt, were jailed for 21 years for rape. Convicted murderer Al-Danasurt, 21, also from Egypt, entered Britain in 2024. He was convicted of rape for filming the attack and was jailed for 18 years. Judge Christine Henson KC called them all “entirely predatory, callous and contemptuous”.
Sheldrick concludes that the publication of the document will deepen anger because the public has been repeatedly told men coming here illegally pose no imminent danger to British women and girls, and that this categorically proves otherwise.
