An asylum seeker has been jailed for 15 years for abducting and raping a 12-year-old in an attack which sparked protests and allegations of a police cover-up.
Afghan national Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, whose victim said he laughed while attacking her last summer, was found guilty last month of rape and two counts of sexual assault against his child victim in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Jurors at Warwick Crown Court also convicted him of child abduction and taking an indecent video of the girl during her ordeal near a residential cul-de-sac.
He had admitted a further rape charge before his trial.
A 10-day trial earlier this year was told that Mulakhil arrived in the UK four months before the rapes and had made an immigration application linked to ‘problems’ he had experienced in Afghanistan.
But they were not told Mulakhil – who arrived in the UK on a small boat – was an asylum seeker.
Details of the case were first revealed by the Mail on Sunday in August, when police were accused of attempting to cover up the immigration status of both defendants to avoid inflaming racial tensions.
It led to outrage in Nuneaton, with an anti-immigration protest staged in the town centre.
Anti-immigration protesters also gathered outside the court today with a banner that said: 'Stop the invasion, end immigration'.
Following the sentencing, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'Under the Labour Government, this vile individual broke into our country illegally and then raped a child.
'This case makes me six to the stomach, and now taxpayers will pay hundreds of thousand of pounds to keep this vile man in prison.
'The victim was just twelve, and the trauma of this brutal attack will stay with her forever.
'The weak Labour Government won’t fix this. From record illegal small boat crossings to repeated failures to remove those with no right to be here, they don’t have the backbone to do what is needed.
'We need to deport all illegal immigrants and foreign criminals to protect the public and prevent crimes like this happening again, and it is why we need to leave the ECHR.'
It emerged today that Mulakhil has now been served with Home Office deportation papers.
Ahmad Mulakhil laughed and took photographs of the girl as he raped her, the court heard
Ahmad Mulakhil and Mohammad Kabir seen by the park after the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton
A screen grab taken from CCTV of Ahmad Mulakhil (front) and Mohammad Kabir (back), seen in a supermarket a day after the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton
Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft told the sentencing hearing that the victim was 'extremely vulnerable' and had been left with 'ongoing medical issues and severe flashbacks' following the attack.
Passing sentence, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said: ‘Your victim had only just turned 12 years of age. The jury’s verdict left no doubt you knew she was aged under 16.
‘You led your victim into a cul-de-sac in a residential area, a secluded area out of public view. You and she spent over an hour together and, during that time, you sexually assaulted her.
‘Your victim was particularly vulnerable and she has suffered significant and ongoing psychological harm.’
Mulakhil was told he would serve 15 years in prison and an extra 12 months on licence.
Marcus Harry, defending, had earlier told the court of Mulakhil's background before reaching the UK.
‘He left Afghanistan at 22, having spent 12 years at school until the age of 18, he was planning on attending university to study economics, but, for a variety of reasons, he came under the focus of the Taliban, as did his family and that is ultimately why he left that country,' he said.
‘He leaves behind in Afghanistan his parents, two brothers and three sisters.’
The trial heard that Mulakhil spotted the girl as she played on swings in a park – and was later recorded on a doorbell camera telling her 'you're very small' and asking for her phone number.
Mulakhil told police he believed the girl was 19 and that she had initiated what was his first sexual encounter.
He faced trial alongside Mohammad Kabir, also an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who was acquitted of charges of intentional strangulation, attempted child abduction and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Kabir, who was 24 according to court documents at the time of the trial but told jurors he was 22, was cleared after maintaining that he never touched the victim and had no sexual intentions towards her.
The victim, who cannot be identified in media reports, told the trial she was approached in a park by both defendants after playing on swings.
Mulakhil took her to a grassy area beside garages at the end of a cul-de-sac, threatened to kill her family and repeatedly raped her, jurors were told.
'He was saying that he liked me,' the girl said. 'I said, "I don't like you. I'm young. I'm a kid."'
In a videotaped statement, the girl said: 'He was trying to strip my clothes off. He said nothing. He was laughing.
'I was saying get off me but he didn't say anything, he just carried on.’
Mulakhil is arrested in his bed after police entered the house of multiple occupation where he had been 'placed'
Details of the 23-year-old's immigration status were revealed by the Mail on Sunday a month after the July attack in Nuneaton, leading to an anti-immigration protest in the town centre
Protesters take to the streets in Nuneaton in August last year after the attack
Mulakhil took indecent photos of the youngster during the attack, the court was told.
Shortly after Mulakhil was filmed with the girl buying Red Bull at a convenience store, she saw an opportunity to escape from him and ran away.
She was later found 'distressed' and alone in another nearby park by an adult that she knew, who called the police.
Mulakhil's DNA was found on the girl's neck and inside her shorts, the court heard.
CCTV evidence showed Mulakhil spent around 80 minutes in the cul-de-sac with the girl.
Mulakhil, who was assisted by a Farsi interpreter in court, admitted to police that he met the girl twice that day and claimed he believed she looked in her twenties – then told jurors he had believed her when she was recorded on a doorbell camera talking to him in a street before the rape when she told him she was 19.
But the prosecutor described it as an 'obvious lie', adding: 'It was clear that from Mr Mulakhil's reaction, he didn't believe her.'
He told the court during his opening: 'The prosecution say that it would be obvious to anyone that she was a very young, vulnerable child.'
Following the conclusion of the trial, the Daily Mail revealed the rapist was tracked down through the Home Office payment card which had been issued in his name.
The cards are given to asylum seekers awaiting a decision to allow them to buy basic items and are topped up with up to £49 each week.
Last month, the Home Office said following Mulakhil's conviction: 'We will not allow foreign criminals and illegal migrants to exploit our laws.
'We are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system so we can scale up deportations.
'The Home Secretary has recently announced sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration. They will make Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and will make it easier to remove and deport them.'
