Britain’s Home Office has reportedly lost track of an asylum seeker that is suspected of raping a teenage boy.
A 39-year-old migrant suspected of raping a teenage boy while being processed by the asylum system has allegedly been lost by the UK authorities.
Politicians in the country have denounced the apparent screw-up, which they describe as “wholly unacceptable”, while police and Home Office officials have seemingly attempted to trade blame on the issue.
According to a report by The Telegraph, the man was arrested on October 5 after reports that a teenage boy was raped at a hotel in London.
With a police investigation into the matter seemingly ongoing, the man was released on bail under the condition that he returns to a designated station sometime in January next year.
However, the Home Office is then said to have attempted to move the migrant from where he was staying to another location, though now appears to have lost him in the process.
“Buckinghamshire Council learned third-hand from a London borough just this morning that an asylum seeker who is under investigation for a very serious offence was transferred to the asylum hotel in Buckingham… but was not escorted into the premises and has since gone missing,” Greg Smith MP told the Commons.
An official from the Home Office has since said that they do not have the power to detain anyone, and that the bail conditions of any migrant suspected of a crime are up to said migrant and law enforcement authorities.
However, the London Metropolitan Police are reportedly maintaining that it was the Home Office that was responsible for housing and moving the migrant, and that any suggestion the police should have escorted the suspect from one location to another during the move was ultimately unjustified.
Regardless of who is to blame however, Smith has now called on the government to take action in order to ensure that the suspect is relocated and resecured in a known location, asking the country’s Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick whether he condemns the alleged loss of the migrant.
“Does my right hon. Friend agree that that process is wholly unacceptable, as were the lines of communication which meant that my local council learned the facts from a London borough rather than from the Home Office or the police, and will he give a commitment that everything possible is being done to apprehend that individual and ensure that until the investigation has been completed the individual is in secure accommodation?” he asked.
In response, Jenrick noted that his fellow MP’s description of events was “concerning”, before assuring him that he would look into the issue and report back.