MP hits out after asylum seeker accused of rape goes on the run from Aylesbury Vale hotel

An MP has hit out as he asked questions over reports an asylum seeker who was accused of rape has gone on the run from a hotel in Buckingham.

A 39-year-old foreign national had been detained by police in a Waltham Forest guesthouse on October 5 after reports a teenage boy had been attacked.

The hotel was being used to house asylum seekers and the man was taken into custody and bailed until early January.

According to Buckingham MP Greg Smith, the suspect was then moved to approved-premises in Buckingham only to learn via Bucks Council that he had absconded and was now on the run.

Speaking in the House of Commons last night, Buckingham MP Greg Smith said: "As if the acquisition of the Best Western hotel in Buckingham, costing hotel staff their jobs and putting an unacceptable pressure on local services, wasn’t bad enough, 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.”

Greg Smith said the process was “wholly unacceptable” as were the lines of communication, and asked for a commitment “that everything possible is being done to apprehend that individual and ensure that until that investigation is completed they are in secured accommodation”.

Home Office minister Robert Jenrick replied: “That does sound like a very concerning incident and he has my assurance that I will raise that with the Home Office and indeed with the police and will report back to him.”

Greg Smith posted on his Facebook page: “It is more vital than ever that those entering our country illegally are processed quickly, and where found to have no legitimate asylum case, deported.

“Likewise, I continue to push for urgent legislation to undo the ability for the European Court of Human Rights to have any say over our Rwanda partnership, and therefore get those entering the UK illegally to Rwanda.”