Afghan asylum seeker found guilty of abducting and raping 12-year-old girl

An Afghan asylum seeker has been found guilty of abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl in Warwickshire.

Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, "targeted" the child after spotting her in a park in Nuneaton last July, prosecutors said. The attack sparked protests in the town, with demonstrators holding St George's Cross flags and Union flags as they marched along the high street chanting "stop the boats" and "we want our country back".

Mulakhil was unanimously convicted at Warwick Crown Court of rape and two counts of sexual assault, having admitted a further rape charge before his trial. Jurors also convicted him of child abduction and taking an indecent video of the girl during her ordeal.

He had told the court he did not force the girl to do anything, and did not threaten her family, but had filmed her, at her insistence, during a brief period of sexual activity. Mulakhil told police he believed the girl was 19 and that she had initiated what was his first sexual encounter.

Co-defendant Mohammad Kabir, also an Afghan national, was acquitted of intentional strangulation, attempted child abduction and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence. Kabir, who is 24 according to court documents but told jurors he was 22, was cleared after maintaining he never touched the victim and had no sexual intentions towards her.

Jurors were told Mulakhil arrived in the UK four months before the rapes and had made an immigration application linked to "problems" he had experienced in Afghanistan. The trial was not told he had arrived in Britain by small boat, or that Kabir had entered the UK by the same method on Christmas Day in 2024.

Read more from Sky News:Teen sentenced for murder of 12-year-old in random attackKing should encourage Andrew to testify about Epstein - poll The men's arrest and charge prompted Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch to claim there had been a "cover-up" of details about the attack. In August, Mr Farage also suggested police should release the immigration status of people charged with offences.

Guidance for police has since changed to allow forces to give nationality and ethnicity details if there is a legitimate policing purpose - but forces still do not confirm the immigration status of crime suspects. Mulakhil was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said: "He will plainly receive a substantial custodial sentence which will automatically make him liable for deportation at its conclusion." She thanked jurors for discharging their duties without paying regard to the "noise" surrounding the proceedings..