Migrants are apparently trying to cut their prison sentences by claiming post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is behind their sexual crimes.
Lawyers have won their clients reduced jail terms after emphasising the trauma experienced in their home countries.
One case saw an Egyptian sex offender who raped a woman in Hyde Park handed a shorter sentence after a psychiatric report suggested he had PTSD.
Abdelrahmen Adnan Abouelela, 42, was set to be handed the maximum term for his sentencing bracket, only to have it reduced to eight and a half years, just above the starting term of eight years, The Times reports.
He told the court he struggled with ‘borderline emotionally unstable personality disorder and PTSD as a result of experiences in Egypt’.
Judge Gregory Perrins in turn sliced his sentence and said: ‘I then make a reduction to take account of your lack of previous convictions whilst in this country and what I have read about you in the psychiatric report.’
The Daily Mail later reported Abouelela was a convicted Islamic terrorist, found guilty in his absence of being part of a bomb-making cell in Egypt and given a seven-year jail sentence on May 5, 2015.
He and six other men were said to have manufactured explosives in a safe house flat to carry out ‘terrorist’ acts such as the bombing of electricity pylons and gas lines.
Migrants, including Abdelrahmen Adnan Abouelela, pictured, are apparently trying to cut their prison sentences by claiming post-traumatic stress disorder is behind their sexual crimes
Hassan Abou Hayleh, pictured left, was jailed for almost three years after a judge rejected his claims that sending him to prison could breach his human rights
Abouelela, a member of the radical Muslim Brotherhood movement, escaped from Egypt and claimed asylum when he arrived in the UK in April 2023, and was housed in taxpayer-funded hotel accommodation while his application was considered.
After this emerged, his case was relisted for sentence but the prosection could not submit any evidence of his previous convictions.
In November 2024, Hassan Abou Hayleh was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman, 19, in Weymouth, Dorset in 2022.
The refugee was jailed for almost three years after a judge rejected his claims that sending him to prison could breach his human rights.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard Hayleh sought asylum in the UK in 2018 after fleeing Syria.
He suffered from PTSD after being held in prison there and was tortured under the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian refugee was granted leave to remain in the UK and settled in Weymouth with his wife who supported him in court.
His defence counsel Graham Gilbert sought to claim that sending him to prison could violate his human rights.
Andrii Starovoitov, pictured, a Ukrainian father-of-three who molested a woman at London Bridge station after fleeing to Britain as a refugee, was spared jail after citing ‘stress’
But after postponing sentencing, Judge Pawson dismissed the arguments and described Hayleh’s actions as ‘chilling’.
Meanwhile, Andrii Starovoitov, a Ukrainian father-of-three who molested a woman at London Bridge station after fleeing to Britain as a refugee, was spared jail while citing similar concerns.
The 33-year-old, who was granted asylum in the UK despite being of fighting age in his home country, launched his attack after joining the queue for the female toilets at just after 7pm on October 26 last year.
The burly migrant, who came to Britain as war continued to rage in his home country, was a senior investigator with the Main Directorate of the Ukrainian National Police in Ternopil Region and dodged jail after claiming he had ‘been under a lot of stress’ over his family’s safety on his arrival into the country.
Last week, small boat migrants Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, both 17, were jailed for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on May 10.
Jahanzeb was jailed for 10 years and eight months, while Niazal was jailed for nine years and 10 months, with a deduction to reflect he was younger at the time of the offence.
Both had argued they struggled with mental health issues related to their time in their native Afghanistan.
Niazal told the court he did not comprehend the idea of consent ‘as it does not exist in Afghanistan’.
Small boat migrants Jan Jahanzeb, pictured left, and Israr Niazal, right, both 17, were jailed for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl but argued they struggled with mental health issues
Judge Sylvia de Bertodano responded: ‘You have betrayed the interests of those like you who come here fleeing harm and seeking safety, and for that you should feel a deep and lasting sense of shame.’
Such cases have been condemned by politicians, including Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp who said that ‘illegal immigrants who rape young women should get a full prison sentence and then be deported, regardless of any asylum or human rights claim’.
Judges must weigh the severity of the crime and the necessity of protecting the public against the psychiatric evidence provided when sentencing.
Claims of mental disorders, including PTSD, do not automatically cut jail terms.
But judges may reduce culpability if the offender is clinically diagnosed with such a disorder that contributed to the crime, according to Sentencing Council guidance.
Sexual offences usually come with significant custodial penalties, regardless of mental health claims, and therefore courts are urged to consider whether any decreased sentence is justified and proportionate.