Officials have been criticised after admitting they do not know how many sexual offences have been carried out by asylum seekers. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) could not provide the figures when requested through transparency laws. The Home Office also failed to provide the statistics. MPs last night slammed the authorities’ lack of data as a “failure of the British state to protect its citizens.”
Protests have broken out across the country near asylum seeker hotels in recent weeks amid fears the Channel migrant crisis could lead to a surge in crime. A series of alleged sexual assaults on young girls outside hotels has led to groups of mothers fearing for their safety taking to the streets to protest.Reform MP Lee Anderson said: “The CPS has failed to collect data on how many illegal migrants are committing sexual offences. Is this due to incompetence or an attempt to protect the reputation of illegals?
“Either way, it marks yet another failure of the British state to protect its citizens. The immigration experiment has failed massively. It is time to deport every illegal migrant and restore safety and civility to our towns and cities.”
In the year ending March 2025, the CPS authorised charges for 14,914 people suspected of committing a sexual offence. A conviction for sexual offences was obtained against 13,190 defendants in the same period. But the CPS said it would have to manually review each case to assess the perpetrator’s immigration status and there was a chance that even that information was not recorded.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded the lack of data, revealed through transparency laws, as “alarming. He said: “The CPS have no idea how many people who are here illegally have committed sexual crimes. The CPS even admits that it does not record or track whether a suspect or defendant is an asylum seeker in any way. That is not good enough. I am calling on the Home Secretary, the Justice Secretary, and the Director of Public Prosecutions to start recording the facts in full.”
Our request to the CPS revealed it does not know the total number of asylum seekers who have committed sexual offences.It said: “The CPS does not centrally hold identifying data as to whether a suspect or defendant was an asylum seeker. Such information, if recorded, would only be available on the CPS Case Management System case files and obtained by undertaking a manual review of all cases which would be at disproportionate cost.”
The Home Office was approached to confirm whether it held the data on asylum seekers and sexual offences.
It failed to provide any figures to the Express.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “Removals of foreign national offenders rose by 14% in the first year that this Government was in office, compared to the previous twelve months, and we will continue to do everything within our power to remove foreign criminals from the UK.
“In addition, we are going further than any previous government has done to increase transparency around the volume and type of offending by foreign nationals. Following the MoJ’s publication this week on FNOs within the prison population, the Home Office will later this year publish the first ever detailed breakdown of FNOs living in the community.
“And in response to Baroness Casey’s recent audit of group-based sexual exploitation and abuse, the Home Secretary announced in June that – for the first time – it will be made a formal requirement for the police to collect ethnicity and nationality data of perpetrators of grooming gangs and other group-based child exploitation and abuse.”
A CPS spokeswoman added: “The CPS does not maintain a central record of asylum or immigration status – however this information may be included in a prosecution if it forms part of our case.” Almost half of foreign prisoners have been locked up for violent and sexual crimes, analysis of Ministry of Justice figures revealed last week.
MPs have demanded that ministers protect women and girls by collecting DNA samples from illegal migrants. Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle has admitted her department only collects fingerprints and facial imagery. Former Cabinet Minister Esther McVey said: “Given the risk of crime – not least serious sexual assault – from these undocumented illegal immigrants, it is absolutely essential that DNA is routinely taken from these people.
“I would much prefer that these illegal immigrants were detained and deported, but in the absence of that at the very least DNA should be taken to reassure the public that their concerns are being taken seriously, and to make sure women and girls are protected from serious sexual offenders.
“This would mean any crimes committed could be more easily solved with the perpetrators brought to justice.” The senior Tory submitted a parliamentary question quizzing the Home Office on the issue. In her response, Dame Angela said: “The Home Office currently collects biometric data of small boat arrivals in the form of facial images and fingerprints, but keeps the nature of such checks under regular review.”
The UK Borders Act 2007, as amended in 2014, does not provide the Home Office with the legal authority to demand DNA samples for immigration status applications. A change in the law would be required to take DNA samples to check the age of people who are seeking to live in the UK, or to hold the DNA in the event they were linked to a crime.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage called for the ethnicity of suspects charged with rape or sexual assault to be published. The Reform leader said: “Given there’s a pretty febrile atmosphere … particularly [around] sexual assaults and rapes, where the temperature on this debate has risen significantly … I do believe they should [disclose suspects’ ethnicities].”
Home Office guidance shows border officials only currently use facial recognition and take fingerprints. But America, France, Canada and Australia all collect some forms of DNA as part of measures to protect the border. The US collects DNA of migrants in prison, while France uses DNA to confirm a family reunification case. Canada requests voluntary submissions to help if documents are missing. Australia also requests them, but the DNA is given on a “voluntary” basis.
The UK Government has also faced pressure to use scientific age testing to accurately state whether a migrant is an adult or a child.Dame Angela told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “Clearly scientific age assessment or photographic age verification is a very important part of what we’re trying to develop, so we can have more of an assurance, particularly on the cusp of child and adult, when someone comes to us with no ID and claims they are children.
“The scientific age assessment approach is still being trialled because the capacity for it to be accurate isn’t enough for it to be deployed at the moment, but I’m personally much more confident about facial age verification.” More than 25,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, a 50% increase on last year.