Authorities accused of trying to ‘downplay’ rape by two Afghan migrants by describing them as ‘boys from Leamington Spa’
The police and courts have been accused of trying to ‘downplay’ the rape of a child by two Afghan migrants.
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The case of Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal was shrouded in secrecy from an early stage.
Despite arriving in the UK by small boat two months before the attack, the rapists were described by Warwickshire Police as ‘two 17-year-old boys from Leamington.’
Their victim, who was 15, was referred to as a ‘young woman’.
The boys also stood trial before a youth court, meaning members of the public could not attend and strict anonymity rules were imposed.
Their identities were only revealed when the case was sent to Warwick Crown Court for sentencing and a legal challenge was mounted by the Daily Mail to have anonymity restrictions lifted.
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Judge Sylvia de Bertodano said it was “unfortunate” the two boys had not been immediately sent before the crown court “given the real seriousness of the offences.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said: “The police appear to have lied to the public in order to downplay this appalling crime.
“The accused were not local lads "from Leamington", they were illegal migrants who arrived in the UK months earlier. And the victim was not a "young woman", she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
“From start to finish this case has been shrouded in secrecy. The police should have been transparent at the start and the case should never have been heard behind closed doors in the youth court.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “The natural instinct of the authorities is to cover up the fact that thousands of crimes - including the rape of young girls - are committed by illegal immigrants.
“The facts should not be hidden - the public deserve the truth.”
Jahanzeb was jailed for 10 years and eight months and Niazal for nine years and 10 months for luring the victim away from her friends before dragging her into a park and raping her.
She managed to film a harrowing three-minute clip on her phone which captured her weeping and saying “you’re going to rape me.”
After their guilty pleas, two rapists were then allowed to roam the streets for a month due to the district judge agreeing to remand them into the care of the local authority. They were only locked up in youth detention to await sentencing 29 days later when the case finally reached crown court for the first time.
A Warwickshire Police spokesman said: “At the time of the charge for rape, the two charged individuals were residents in Leamington so therefore the information given was accurate in terms of their home address.
“While we appreciate guidance is now in place to release ethnicity and nationality of suspects at point of charge, there was no such guidance in place at that time in May 2025.
“We acknowledge that we referred to the victim as a young woman in the original witness appeal. We subsequently referred to her as a girl in all further updates - the original appeal is now amended.”