An asylum seeker who was arrested on suspicion of raping a teenage boy has gone missing after he was bailed.
According to The Times:
Police were called to a hotel in Waltham Forest, London, last month after reports that a 13-year-old had been raped. They arrested a 39-year-old man.
Greg Smith, the Tory MP for Buckingham, claimed in the Commons that the suspect had since gone missing after being released on bail and sent to another hotel.
Smith said: “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 by the Metropolitan Police but was not escorted into the premises and has since gone missing.”
That process is wholly unacceptable,” he said while asking for a commitment “that everything possible is being done to apprehend that individual”.
The Times understands the Metropolitan Police would not have been responsible for escorting the man.
The Met said: “He is on bail pending further inquiries and must return to the police station on a date in early January. His accommodation status in the interim period is a matter for the Home Office, not the police.”
Police were initially called to the hotel, which was being used to house migrants, on October 5, to reports that a 13-year-old boy had been raped.
In a separate case, a younger boy claimed he was sexually assaulted at the same hotel a week earlier, and Suella Braverman, the home secretary, was warned by the leader of Waltham Forest council that the safeguarding plan was not sufficient.
Migrants need to get permission from the Home Office if they plan to be away from their authorised accommodation for more than seven straight days and must not be absent for more than 14 days in a six-month period.
The Home Office is using hotels across the country to house migrants while their asylum applications are processed.
