Nick Ferrari 7am - 10am
Asylum seeker charged with 'rape' of a woman just 40 days after arriving in Britain on small boat
28 June 2023, 06:57 | Updated: 28 June 2023, 07:17
A 33-year-old asylum seeker has been charged with raping a woman in a park just a few weeks after arriving in the UK on a dinghy.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The 33-year-old is said to have dragged the alleged victim into bushes to attack her.
He is understood to have arrived in the UK just 40 days earlier after crossing the Channel in a dinghy.
The victim says she was dragged into bushes by a stranger and attacked, The Sun reported.
Skegness MP Matt Warman described the allegations as “hugely shocking” and said it “understandably raised a number of significant concerns”.
But he added on social media: “I would ask that people resist the understandable desire to speculate on this case.”
Read more: UK set for hottest June on record - with temperatures to soar even higher to 40C in July
A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: "Officers were called to the Tower Gardens area of Skegness just after 10.40pm on Friday, June 9 to a report of a sexual assault."
At a magistrates court hearing on Monday, the defendant was denied bail and is awaiting his first crown court appearance.
The Sun also reported investigators were working to establish if the man had any convictions prior to entering the UK.
Small boat migrants are being housed in hotels across the UK, as the Government struggles to find enough accommodation.
For more than a year, some have been placed in hotels on Skegness seafront, resulting in protests from residents and businesses.