An asylum seeker has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old, a case that ignited protests and accusations of a police cover-up.

Ahmad Mulakhil, a 23-year-old Afghan national, was found guilty last month of raping and sexually assaulting the young girl in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. During the trial, the victim recounted how Mulakhil laughed while attacking her last summer.

At Warwick Crown Court, jurors also found Mulakhil guilty of child abduction and recording an indecent video of the girl during the harrowing incident near a residential area.

Before the trial commenced, Mulakhil had already confessed to an additional rape charge.

During the 10-day trial held earlier this year, it was revealed that Mulakhil had arrived in the UK just four months prior to the attacks, citing issues he faced in Afghanistan in his immigration application.

However, the jury was not informed that Mulakhil, who entered the UK via a small boat, was seeking asylum.

Details of the case were first revealed by the Mail on Sunday in August, when police were accused of attempting to cover up the immigration status of both defendants to avoid inflaming racial tensions.

It led to outrage in Nuneaton, with an anti-immigration protest staged in the town centre.

Ahead of sentencing, anti-immigration protesters gathered outside the court with a banner that said: ‘Stop the invasion, end immigration’.

It emerged today that Mulakhil has now been served with Home Office deportation papers.

Ahmad Mulakhil laughed and took photographs of the girl as he raped her, the court heard

Ahmad Mulakhil and Mohammad Kabir seen by the park after the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton

A screen grab taken from CCTV of Ahmad Mulakhil (front) and Mohammad Kabir (back), seen in a supermarket a day after the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton

Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft told the sentencing hearing that the victim was ‘extremely vulnerable’ and had been left with ‘ongoing medical issues and severe flashbacks’ following the attack. 

Passing sentence, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said: ‘Your victim had only just turned 12 years of age. The jury’s verdict left no doubt you knew she was aged under 16.

‘You led your victim into a cul-de-sac in a residential area, a secluded area out of public view. You and she spent over an hour together and, during that time, you sexually assaulted her.

‘Your victim was particularly vulnerable and she has suffered significant and ongoing psychological harm.’

Mulakhil was told he would serve 15 years in prison and an extra 12 months on licence. 

Marcus Harry, defending, had earlier told the court of Mulakhil’s background before reaching the UK.

‘He left Afghanistan at 22, having spent 12 years at school until the age of 18, he was planning on attending university to study economics, but, for a variety of reasons, he came under the focus of the Taliban, as did his family and that is ultimately why he left that country,’ he said.

‘He leaves behind in Afghanistan his parents, two brothers and three sisters.’

The trial heard that Mulakhil spotted the girl as she played on swings in a park – and was later recorded on a doorbell camera telling her ‘you’re very small’ and asking for her phone number.

Mulakhil told police he believed the girl was 19 and that she had initiated what was his first sexual encounter.

He faced trial alongside Mohammad Kabir, also an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who was acquitted of charges of intentional strangulation, attempted child abduction and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Kabir, who was 24 according to court documents at the time of the trial but told jurors he was 22, was cleared after maintaining that he never touched the victim and had no sexual intentions towards her.

The victim, who cannot be identified in media reports, told the trial she was approached in a park by both defendants after playing on swings.

Mulakhil took her to a grassy area beside garages at the end of a cul-de-sac, threatened to kill her family and repeatedly raped her, jurors were told.

‘He was saying that he liked me,’ the girl said. ‘I said, “I don’t like you. I’m young. I’m a kid.”‘

In a videotaped statement, the girl said: ‘He was trying to strip my clothes off. He said nothing. He was laughing.

‘I was saying get off me but he didn’t say anything, he just carried on.’

Mulakhil is arrested in his bed after police entered the house of multiple occupation where he had been ‘placed’

Details of the 23-year-old’s immigration status were revealed by the Mail on Sunday a month after the July attack in Nuneaton, leading to an anti-immigration protest in the town centre

Protesters take to the streets in Nuneaton in August last year after the attack

Mulakhil took indecent photos of the youngster during the attack, the court was told.

Shortly after Mulakhil was filmed with the girl buying Red Bull at a convenience store, she saw an opportunity to escape from him and ran away.

She was later found ‘distressed’ and alone in another nearby park by an adult that she knew, who called the police.

Mulakhil’s DNA was found on the girl’s neck and inside her shorts, the court heard.

CCTV evidence showed Mulakhil spent around 80 minutes in the cul-de-sac with the girl.

Mulakhil, who was assisted by a Farsi interpreter in court, admitted to police that he met the girl twice that day and claimed he believed she looked in her twenties – then told jurors he had believed her when she was recorded on a doorbell camera talking to him in a street before the rape when she told him she was 19.

But the prosecutor described it as an ‘obvious lie’, adding: ‘It was clear that from Mr Mulakhil’s reaction, he didn’t believe her.’

He told the court during his opening: ‘The prosecution say that it would be obvious to anyone that she was a very young, vulnerable child.’

Following the conclusion of the trial, the Daily Mail revealed the rapist was tracked down through the Home Office payment card which had been issued in his name.

The cards are given to asylum seekers awaiting a decision to allow them to buy basic items and are topped up with up to £49 each week.

Last month, the Home Office said following Mulakhil’s conviction: ‘We will not allow foreign criminals and illegal migrants to exploit our laws.

‘We are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system so we can scale up deportations.

‘The Home Secretary has recently announced sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration. They will make Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and will make it easier to remove and deport them.’