
Police have hit back at Reform UK’s claim of a “cover-up” over the immigration status of two Afghan men being prosecuted in connection with the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl.
Warwickshire police said it had asked the Home Office to confirm the full immigration status of Ahmad Mulakhil and Mohammad Kabir, who have been charged in the case.
The force’s chief constable, Alex Franklin-Smith, took the unusual step of publishing a letter to the county council leader, Reform UK’s George Finch, who had accused authorities of a “cover-up” for not disclosing that the suspects are Afghan asylum seekers.
“Warwickshire police did not and will not cover up such criminality,” Franklin-Smith wrote in a letter published on the force’s website on Tuesday night.
“As I confirmed to you when we spoke for the first time on Thursday 31 July, in events such as these it is good practice for police forces to work closely with partner agencies in order that we can collectively protect our communities.”
The alleged rape of the 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton, said to have happened on 22 July, has become the centre of a political storm after the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, amplified claims of a police cover-up.
Finch, the youngest council leader in England, alleged within days that Mulakhil and Kabir were asylum seekers, but police forces do not routinely release the immigration status of suspects in order to prevent the potential prejudice of any future trial.
In a letter to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, Finch claimed the police risked “disorder breaking out on the streets” of the county.
Cooper said on Tuesday “we do want to see greater transparency” from police forces and that she wanted national guidance to change in relation to the release of information about suspects.
Mulakhil has been charged with two counts of rape, while Kabir has been charged with kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting the rape of a girl aged under 13. Both men are in custody and due to appear at Warwick crown court on 26 August.
Finch was briefed confidentially about the immigration status of the two men by Warwickshire county council’s chief executive, according to the chief constable’s letter.
Franklin-Smith said he confirmed to Finch last Thursday that this information was accurate but that “we wouldn’t be releasing immigration status at point of charge as we follow national guidance”.
The police chief said he had asked the Home Office to confirm the full immigration status of the two men given that some details had been released publicly by Finch. The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
He added: “My responsibility is what Warwickshire police say and do and we will continue to work with our partners across the county on behalf of the Warwickshire public. I am confident that Warwickshire police has treated this investigation seriously from the outset, working tirelessly to identify, locate, arrest and charge those suspected of being responsible for this awful crime as quickly as possible.”