Parents in Wigan, England, have been left fearful as male migrants hosted in a local hotel are accused of roaming the community harassing underage girls and filming them through schoolyard fences.
Migrants put up in the Britannia Hotel by Serco, one of a small number of scandal–ridden private corporations who earn big money accommodating and monitoring illegal migrants for the government, arguably not very well, are hanging around outside the entrances to schools, leering at and recording schoolgirls during PE (Physical Education) workouts through schoolyard fences, and harassing young girls at a local landmark called The Line, according to Wigan Today.
In one case, a 12-year-old girl was reportedly surrounded by migrant men and recorded on their mobile phones as she burst into tears, before being rescued by “local hero” Ross Pilkington, who managed to extricate her from the situation and escort her home.
“I dread to think what would have happened if he hadn’t been there. My husband Dominic and I have drummed it into our children about stranger danger and what you should and shouldn’t do, but I’m not sure what I would have done if faced with that situation. I’m pretty sure our older girl would have just frozen,” said the girl’s mother, named by Wigan Today as Vikki Boyle.
“We rang the police straight away. Our daughter was sure she could identify five out of 10 of them,” she added.
The police, who have something of a reputation for being disinclined to act against migration-background men grooming British girls, decided that “no offences [had] been committed”, however.
“The behaviour of a small number of men from the Britannia Hotel has been causing a lot of upset,” said one mother.
“They clearly need educating. If you flee from your own country and want to be accepted in a new one, then you need to learn the new country’s ways.
“The last thing we want is all the right-wing thugs using this as an excuse to bring their toxic messages to Wigan again and whipping up racism,” she added, as if this should be people’s primary concern rather than the risk that underage girls might be sexually assaulted by men being left at large in the community while their asylum claims are vetted.
Another mother did say that there are “police around Standish High [School] now just after school because of what has been going on and that offers some reassurance,” but said that her own “daughters are being taken to school and back and are going nowhere else on foot at the moment because I don’t feel it’s safe.
“The behaviour is borderline legal-illegal so people aren’t being arrested but the worry is that this could escalate if it’s allowed to continue,” she fretted.
Vikki Boyle said she did not like “keeping our daughters in all summer holiday because of these men who are hanging around” after they had previously been unable to move freely because of the Wuhan virus pandemic, complaining of the impact on children’s mental health.
Local government did not seem especially interested in the issue in their comments to Wigan Today, with a spokesman merely issuing a boilerplate statement about “working closely with our colleagues at GMP [Greater Manchester Police] to ensure any reported concerns are considered and responded to in the most appropriate manner, and also to coordinate offers of help and support for the asylum seekers whilst they are in our borough,” as well being in “regular contact with the Home Office and Serco”.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Labour’s Lisa Nandy, was somewhat more robust, saying that “The Home Office must stop treating councils and communities with contempt and work with our local authority to ensure suitable alternative accommodation” and complaining that the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had not even “had the courtesy to respond” to a letter she had sent regarding the issue.
The Britannia Hotel was used as migrant accommodation by Serco some years ago but the company ended the arrangement after it proved to be unsuitable, and according to Wigan Today their turning to it once again has been done “with no notice or consultation with the police, council, [Lisa Nandy] or the local community”.