On Friday, October 11, 2024, a depressingly familiar scene played out just off England's South Coast. Buoyed by a brief calming of the waters between France and Dover, 142 migrants took their chance and packed onto two barely seaworthy inflatable boats destined for the UK. They were men, women and young children, from various parts of the world, all arriving into the UK illegally to seek asylum.
One of their number, however, was harbouring a dark criminal past that was only to reveal itself much later – and in the most tragic of circumstances. For among the undocumented arrivals was a 19-year-old Egyptian man. He told authorities his name was Karin Al-Danasurt. He would go on to gang-rape a vulnerable woman on a night out, along with two fellow asylum seekers. All three would have their bids to stay in the UK turned down by authorities - including, in the case of Ibrahim Alshafe, the weekend the trio struck.
All three launched appeals, and have remained in the UK ever since. It is understood Al-Danasurt gave a false name when he arrived in Dover. Some small boat arrivals falsely claim to be under 18 to receive better housing and support, a more sympathetic hearing in their asylum claim and with the belief they are less likely to be detained. Al-Danasurt, however, sought to dupe officials for another reason. Simply, a false name meant he could not be tied to his past. Specifically the murder conviction he faced in his homeland, which can carry the death penalty.
Foreign criminals are not routinely permitted to seek asylum in the UK. But because Al-Danasurt was successfully able to deceive immigration officials upon his arrival, he was put up in a Home Office-approved asylum hotel, courtesy of the British taxpayer. There, he was able to lodge an asylum claim. He was joined in doing so by two other illegal migrants – Alshafe, 25, also from Egypt, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran.
These two were among the 102 small boat migrants taken to shore on June 19 last year, making up a fraction of the 2,000 arrivals that week. None of the trio knew each other prior to this time. But by October 4 they certainly did. They were each resident at the Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham, West Sussex, a migrant hotel for those seeking asylum. All three had their asylum claims turned down – with Alshafe's being turned down that very weekend. Each lodged an appeal to stay.
It is during this time that the three friends targeted and gang-raped a vulnerable woman on a secluded part of Brighton beach. The woman, who had been enjoying a 'girl's night out', had become separated from her friends. Chilling CCTV footage showed the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, barely able to stand, as she was shepherded away from revellers and on to the pebbles near a beach patrol shack. There, drifting in and out of consciousness, she was raped, spat at, kicked and slapped by her assailants. Al-Danasurt even filmed the sickening ordeal.
The victim said later: 'I was begging them to stop and they wouldn't. Every time I close my eyes I can see them laughing at me. Every night it bothers me. They thought it was funny. They have literally ruined my whole life.' After the attack, the court heard the trio took a bus back to their asylum hotel and had a barbecue. Yesterday, all three were convicted of rape following a five-week trial.
The Home Office will not disclose when murderer Al-Danasurt had his asylum claim rejected, or the basis on which it was made. The Government has said it will move to deport all three once their sentences – likely to be lengthy – are handed down by the judge at Hove Crown Court in July. That, however, is likely to be little comfort to the woman they raped.
Hanna Llewellyn-Waters, prosecuting, said the men had been 'on the prowl' that night and had worked like a 'predatory pack'. She said they had not seen her as a human being but as a piece of 'meat'. She said: 'She was repeatedly abused for their sexual gratification and entertainment, and that entertainment was obtained in part through her degradation. They wanted sex and that could be achieved by being with someone who was in no state to resist them.' She added: '[The complainant's] state was such that it rendered her extremely vulnerable and indeed, to all intents and purposes, pretty much incapacitated.'
In evidence the victim described herself as 'paralytic drunk' and said she had absolutely no recollection of how she came to be on Brighton beach. She remembered drifting in and out of consciousness while being repeatedly 'abused' by three men. The victim described being powerless to stop them and said her body felt so paralysed she thought she may have had her drink spiked earlier in the night. She said one of the men had his mobile phone out with a light on and was filming the rape.
Giving evidence she said: 'I asked them to stop and they wouldn't stop. I was begging them to stop and they wouldn't. Every time I close my eyes I can see them laughing at me. Every night it bothers me. They thought it was funny. It wasn't consensual at all. They have literally ruined my whole life. I didn't say they could do that. My skin crawls because of what they did to me. They're evil and they've ruined my life. Every day if I close my eyes and it's not one of them laughing at me, it's the seagulls or the waves I can hear and they're tormenting me.'
In tears she told the jury: 'It wasn't consensual, they are evil and they have ruined my life. How can someone give consent when you're unconscious?' When they finished their depraved attack, the three men walked back up the ramp to the promenade and wandered off to catch a bus. Footage showed them enjoying a barbecue later. The day after the attack, Ahmadi absconded from the hotel and travelled to an address 200 miles away in Crewe, Cheshire. All three men were arrested a little over a week after the attack and charged with rape.
But the case yet again exposes the fragility of the UK's borders. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she worried about the number of men coming to the UK illegally with 'backwards and medieval' views on women and said: 'We need to be very tough on them.' Robert Jenrick, for Reform UK, added: 'These evil men should never have been in our country. I couldn't care less if they have a hard time back in Egypt, they should be deported so they never step foot in this country again.'
