By GEORGIA EDKINS, SCOTTISH ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR DAILY MAIL AND THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
The small boats migrant who raped a 15-year-old lady after claiming asylum in Britain had lived as a vacationer in THREE European cities earlier than arriving within the UK.
Sadeq Nikzad, 29, travelled 4,000 miles from his native Afghanistan to succeed in the UK and search asylum round two years earlier than the assault.
But a Every day Mail investigation reveals how he travelled by means of not less than THREE protected international locations and lived fortunately as a vacationer earlier than arriving in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, the place he attacked the schoolgirl yards from his migrant hostel. He was jailed for 9 years for rape.
The assault despatched shockwaves throughout Scotland and prompted the nation’s first indignant protests towards asylum motels.
Extraordinary photos recommend Nikzad’s journey by means of Italy, Germany and France earlier than arriving on British soil was extra of a luxurious vacationer journey quite than a battle to flee persecution or hazard.
The social media photos present the migrant posing gleefully exterior a few of the world’s most well-known landmarks, together with Rome’s Colosseum, Cologne Cathedral, as he made his option to the UK to say ‘refuge’.
One image exhibits him sporting a North Face puffa jacket, value greater than £300, and smiling in entrance of the Eiffel Tower in Paris because the solar units.
The migrant was despatched to The Cladhan Lodge, Falkirk, which holds about 50 different refugees
One other exhibits that upon arriving within the UK by small boat, he stopped off at a purchasing centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, the place he duly uploaded a put up of him carrying a three-piece linen swimsuit.
Chillingly, his flamboyant social media posts have been met by encouragement from family and friends at residence, who left feedback studying: ‘Good job’ and ‘God bless’.
In June, Nikzad was sentenced to 9 years behind bars for rape on the Excessive Court docket in Livingston and can serve an additional three years on licence.
His lawyer claimed he had not been educated in regards to the vital ‘cultural’ variations between the UK and Afghanistan, the place little one marriage is prevalent.
New particulars of the rapist’s luxurious journey to the UK have prompted recent issues about Britain’s embattled asylum system.
It comes after it was final week revealed a document 111,000 migrants have sought asylum within the UK since Keir Starmer received energy, with the best quantity ever now staying in Scots motels.
The migrant exhibits off a three-piece linen swimsuit after taking a small boat from France to the UK
Nikzad’s brutal rape of a 15-year-old in Falkirk has sparked protests from the area people
Shadow House Secretary Chris Philp mentioned: ‘Keir Starmer’s lack of border management can be a public security disaster, particularly for ladies and ladies.’
He mentioned: ‘It is a sickening case of an unlawful immigrant from Afghanistan raping a 15 year-old-girl, after which making an attempt in charge his appalling crime on cultural variations. ‘
He added: ‘It’s particularly galling that he travelled by means of a number of clearly protected international locations the place he might simply have claimed asylum if he actually wanted to. Males with Afghan nationality are round 20 instances extra prone to commit intercourse offences, so this case is tragically not an remoted one.
‘This appalling man arrived illegally by small boat – and this yr to this point has seen the best ever variety of arrivals, who’re primarily males aged below 40.’
Chairman of Migration Watch Alp Mehmet mentioned: ‘The immigration and asylum system is shattered past restore. It have to be changed shortly with one which protects our women and girls from mendacity scumbags like Nikzad.’
And Scottish Tory group security spokeswoman Sharon Dowey mentioned: ‘Individuals might be appalled at how this now convicted rapist was in a position to openly make his approach illegally throughout Europe.
Shadow House Secretary Chris Philp mentioned it was a ‘sickening case’ and mentioned the UK was in disaster
Chairman of Migration Watch Alp Mehmet mentioned Britain’s migration system was ‘shattered’
‘They may even be sickened by these photos of him having fun with himself at world-renowned vacationer sights earlier than coming into the UK.’
Nikzad’s native Afghanistan was the second highest nation of origin for UK asylum claims within the yr ending June 2025.
Since October 2021, 33,970 Afghans have claimed asylum right here.
To be eligible for asylum, the House Workplace states: ‘You will need to have left your nation and be unable to return since you worry persecution.’
It final week confirmed there are at the moment 6,107 folks bidding for refugee standing in Scotland, double the quantity a decade in the past, with 1,573 in Scotland-based taxpayer-funded motels.
Afghanistan, which was taken over by the Taliban in 2021, has been dogged by battle, humanitarian crises and financial challenges.
Nikzad was jailed for rape in June this yr after attacking a Scottish lady in October, 2023
The migrant, pictured at Cologne mosque, shared his journey throughout Europe to the UK
But a picture uploaded to Nikzad’s Instagram web page in April 2020 seems to indicate he had nice admiration for the nation, as he’s pictured standing amid the mountains, carrying conventional costume along with his arms raised to the sky.
Seven months later, it seems his journey to the UK had begun, after he shared a snap of him greater than 3,000 miles away in Europe, exterior the Royal Palace of Turin, Italy.
On November 24 of 2020, he then shared a photograph of him posing in denims and a puffa coat exterior the Colosseum in Rome.
Between that point and the autumn of 2021 Nikzad uploaded a raft of different photos taken at spots round Italy carrying good garments corresponding to Nike trainers and Nike tracksuits.
He loved boat journeys within the solar, and even went to Sicily for a interval, the social media photos present. By 2021, it seems he had inched nearer to the UK, by travelling north to Cologne in Germany.
One picture exhibits him standing proudly exterior the well-known Cologne Cathedral, carrying his North Face coat, Nike trainers and shades. In one other, exterior the Cologne Central Mosque, he wore leather-based loafers and thin denims.
Sporting Doc Marten footwear and a North Face cap, Nikzad poses exterior Montereau station in Marseille, France
Globetrotter Nikzad is snapped overlooking the Eiffel Tower in Paris because the solar units
He’s then believed to have tracked by means of to France, the place he visited Marseilles within the South and onto Paris. There, he visited the well-known purchasing avenue, the Champs Elysees, sharing an image of himself which confirmed a lit-up Arc de Triomphe within the distance.
Nikzad additionally took quite a few photos of himself in entrance of the Eiffel Tower – one, on the banks of the Seine, the opposite from a vantage level excessive up over town.
In line with the Excessive Court docket in Livingston, Nikzad entered the UK illegally on a small boat. His intention was to settle right here as an asylum seeker with entry to taxpayer-funded lodging, advantages and NHS healthcare.
He’s believed to have stayed in England for a interval, as a picture uploaded in December 2022 exhibits the migrant posing in a 3 piece swimsuit in Basingstoke, Hampshire, contained in the Pageant Place purchasing centre.
Photographs recommend he was later housed by The House Workplace in The Cladhan Lodge, in Falkirk. He up to date his social media followers with quite a few photos of him lounging within the institution’s plush leather-based chairs and taking-in the city.
His and different asylum seekers’ presence within the space went largely unnoticed till in October 2023, when Nikzad approached a 15-year-old lady close to a neighborhood pub and proceeded to brutally rape her in broad daylight.
After taking a small boat throughout The Channel, Nikzad is pictured purchasing in Hampshire
He was convicted of rape by a jury on the Excessive Court docket in Edinburgh after they heard how he went as much as the lady and requested for her cellphone quantity and whether or not she had a boyfriend.
He made sexual remarks in the direction of the underage teen earlier than main her to the rear of The Courtyard pub and attacking her.
Nikzad’s defence counsel Janice Inexperienced advised an earlier listening to that her consumer had not been educated in regards to the vital cultural variations between the UK and Afghanistan.
She highlighted the “cultural barrier” between his residence nation and Scotland within the sense that little one marriage was prevalent in Afghanistan and mentioned: ‘Specifically in poorer areas within the north little one marriages are almost 50 per cent.’
She mentioned Nikzad had lived in numerous places within the UK for the reason that age of 25 and had utilized for asylum, however his declare had lapsed since his remand in custody.
Passing sentence, Choose Morris KC advised the accused: ‘I recognize that you just don’t settle for that you just’ve performed something fallacious however the truth stays that you just’ve been convicted of a particularly critical sexual offence towards a baby and I do know your counsel has now defined to you that in these circumstances solely a considerable custodial sentence is acceptable.’
Nikzad’s crimes have shaken the native Falkirk group, sparking protests exterior the lodge
Residents say folks have a reliable proper to know who’s being housed of their space
The Choose was pressured to hurriedly go away the bench as Nikzad, screaming and gesticulating wildly, repeatedly shouted that he was a ‘liar’ earlier than being led to the cells.
Nikzad will serve 9 years in custody adopted by three years on licence, go on the intercourse offenders register and on the finish of his sentence, be deported.
Indignant protests in Falkirk round The Cladhan asylum lodge noticed one other suspected resident, Saif Aref Ageed, 23, arrested and charged with deliberately exposing himself in a sexual method to a different particular person, with the intention that the opposite particular person will see them, with out that particular person’s consent on August 16.
He was additionally charged with coercing somebody into being current throughout a sexual exercise between June 1 and August 16 on the similar lodge.
Ageed was launched on bail and the case was continued with out plea till September 12.
Connor Graham of Falkirk protest organisers Save Our Future and Our Youngsters’ Future final evening mentioned: ‘The case of Sadeq Nikzad, who brutally raped a 15-year-old lady in Falkirk, exhibits precisely why native communities are so involved. Individuals need to know who’s being housed of their space, particularly when these positioned there embody people with such critical felony backgrounds. Our name is straightforward – transparency, security, and placing our communities and kids first.’
A House Workplace spokeswoman mentioned: ‘Whereas it’s our longstanding coverage to not touch upon particular person circumstances, any international nationwide who commits sexual offences towards youngsters in our nation will face the total power of the legislation and be deported on the earliest alternative. Because of the brand new reforms we’re introducing in our Border Safety Invoice, any asylum claims these offenders make may even be mechanically denied.’
