How a string of Home Office blunders left an Afghan double murderer free to kill an aspiring Royal Marine: Killer who was wanted for gunning down two people in Serbia posed as a 14-year-old orphan to enter the UK on a ferry
A string of Home Office blunders left an Afghan double murderer free to kill an aspiring Royal Marine, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai arrived in Britain on a ferry in 2019 posing as a 14-year-old orphan, when he was actually a 19-year-old fugitive wanted by Serbian police for killing two people with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
His criminal background only became known after he was arrested for stabbing 21-year-old aspiring Marine Thomas Roberts in Bournemouth last year. Until then, he had been in the care of social services and foster families after his lies that his parents had been killed by the Taliban were accepted.
Home Office officials pledged to investigate the ‘red flags missed’ – which might have saved the life of Mr Roberts had they been picked up earlier – after the killer was jailed for life with a minimum of 29 years in January.
But despite calls for full transparency by Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East, the Home Office announced two weeks ago that their findings would not be made public.
SHAMELESS: Killer Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai after he was arrested
VICTIM: Thomas Roberts was aged just 21 when he was murdered last year by Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai
But despite calls for full transparency by Tobias Ellwood, MP for Bournemouth East, the Home Office announced two weeks ago that their findings would not be made public
The MoS can reveal how the inquiry exposed a catalogue of incompetence where civil servants did not do basic checks. They included:
- Failure to carry out a Eurodac fingerprint check to search a Europe-wide database of asylum seekers;
- Paperwork mix-ups so checks to discover his true identity stalled;
- A red flag on his violent past not being followed-up for three years – and only after he had killed again.
Last night a source said: ‘The most basic checks were not completed. When he arrived in this country, he lied about his identity – not an uncommon problem – but we have a sophisticated system designed to overcome that. In this case, the system was not used properly.
‘It was a mess from start to finish. There was a lot of faffing about with social services, mental health assessments, missed appointments and issues with translators that seriously delayed matters. By the time they got to the bottom of it and discovered his horrifying criminal record, it was too late and he had killed again – this time on the streets of Britain.’
Abdulrahimzai entered the UK in December 2019, convincing officials he was 14 and was eventually looked after by foster families, going to two different schools.
He was found guilty of the murder of Mr Roberts at Salisbury Crown Court in January this year, after a jury heard he had stabbed the aspiring Marine in the chest twice when he tried to stop an argument over an electric scooter.
Minister Chris Philp said: ‘The Home Office is conducting an internal investigation to examine the circumstances surrounding this case. We do not routinely publish internal reports and there are no plans to do so here.’
After Abdulrahimzai’s sentencing, Mr Roberts’ stepdad Peter Wallace said: ‘He was a loaded cannon and he just happened to point at Tommy. We feel like the system has let us down.’
Last night, Mr Ellwood said: ‘This reveals the litany of red flags missed that would have exposed how dangerous Abdulrahimzai was . . . If we are to learn lessons, and prevent a repeat of this tragedy, the investigation’s findings should be made public.’
Last night, the Home Office said it would not comment on an individual case but admitted that prompt, mandatory Eurodac checks are ‘critical to a safe and secure immigration system’.
A spokesman said: ‘Foreign national offenders who exploit our system and commit crimes here in the UK will face the full force of the law . . . The Government is committed to stopping abuse of the immigration system, taking decisive action against those who try to play the system.’
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