An attempted “cover-up” of the extent of crimes committed by foreigners must be ended, the families of victims of murders and sex assaults by migrants have told ministers.
The Government is trying to prevent the publication of data revealing the full scale of foreign offending in England and Wales from 2018 to 2024.
Eleven families of victims of crimes carried out by migrants – including high-profile killings and sex assaults – have written to Alex Norris, the Justice Secretary, urging him to drop plans to use the courts to block the data’s release.
They said the Government must “stop spending public money on this attempted cover-up” because it was “clearly and legitimately in the public interest” for the data revealing the “impact of migration policy on crime” to be published.
“Imagine if someone you loved had been attacked, abused, or killed by a person who had entered Britain from abroad,” they wrote.
“We believe that victims and the wider public deserve transparency about the people who enter our country and the crimes they subsequently commit.”
The victims and survivors include a 14-year-old girl sexually assaulted by an Ethiopian asylum seeker staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping; Ann Newman, the partner of dog walker Wayne Broadhurst, who was killed by an Afghan national; and eight members of the family of Rhiannon Whyte, a hotel worker stabbed to death by a Sudanese national.
The Information Commissioner ruled previously that data revealing the full scale of foreign offending in England and Wales from 2018 to 2024 should be published.
It came after the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, asked the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to reveal the total number of convictions broken down by nationality and offences for the seven years under freedom of information laws.
The MoJ initially refused, saying that to gather the data would be too expensive and that publishing the information could lead to the identification of individuals in breach of their rights to privacy.
Both arguments were rejected by the information watchdog. However, The Telegraph revealed last month that David Lammy, then justice secretary, sanctioned legal action seeking to overturn this ruling.
Opposition parties claimed the MoJ’s actions amounted to a “cover-up”.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, said: “Labour has consistently refused to publish sex crime data by nationality. Why are they trying to appeal against releasing the data? Do Labour just want to cover up the truth about foreign national offenders?”
Consent advice
The victims’ letter comes after it emerged last week that the Home Office has published a booklet for migrants telling them what rape is, the importance of consent for “sexual contact of any kind” and the need to respect UK laws and culture.
In their letter, they said: “We are the victims of crime, or the family members of victims of crime, perpetrated by a migrant. We have lost loved ones, or had our lives devastated by horrific violence and abuse. We believe that the public has a right to understand the full impact of migration policy on crime.
“This is why we are deeply concerned that the Ministry of Justice is going to court to prevent the publication of data pertaining to the nationality of people convicted of crime.
“The release of this information is clearly and legitimately in the public interest. The public deserves to see the facts for themselves, and the country urgently needs an informed debate about the consequences of immigration policy.
“We ask you to see this issue not through the lens of political convenience, but from the perspective of victims and their families.”
They said that withholding the data damaged public trust and prevented any “meaningful action”. “We therefore urge the Government to stop spending public money on this attempted cover-up and, in accordance with the decision of the Information Commissioner’s Office, release the data,” they said.
Other signatories include Fiona Goddard, one of the victims of a Bradford grooming gang, and Sammy Woodhouse, who was raped in the Rotherham grooming gang scandal. Both have waived their right to anonymity.
The MoJ has published some conviction figures, previously reported by The Telegraph, showing overall numbers for all sexual offences but has not provided figures for individual crimes such as rape, murder and arson since 2018.
They showed foreign nationals accounted for one in seven (14.1 per cent) of sexual offence convictions last year, based on data drawn from the Police National Computer.
It is understood the MoJ denies allegations of a cover up. A spokesman said: “Protecting the public is our priority and we are committed to supporting victims of all crimes – including through our record £550m funding package for victim support services.
“We do not comment on live legal proceedings.”