Why was Spring Bank rapist free to walk streets?

THE Home Office says an Ethiopian asylum-seeker will be deported after being convicted of sex attacks against two women.

However, a spokesman for the government department refused to explain why Ybrah Haylemaryam was allowed to walk the streets of Hull for nine years.

Haylemaryam, 28, dragged his first victim off Spring Bank after spotting the 20-year-old student carrying her shoes after a night out in 2004.

He was not charged because of a lack of evidence.

The case was reopened after Haylemaryam raped a woman who had agreed to go on a date with him last year and he has now been convicted of both offences and warned to expect a lengthy prison sentence.

It is not known if Haylemaryam, who lived in the Spring Bank area of the city for nine years, arrived in the country legally or whether there were plans to deport him before the offences came to light.

Haylemaryam was convicted at Hull Crown Court of two counts of false imprisonment, four rapes and three sexual assaults on his two victims.

Detectives believe it is possible there are more victims.

The court was told Haylemaryam followed his first victim down the road, before forcing her back to his flat, where he raped her.

Giving evidence, the victim said: "I was terrified. I just kept saying 'I don't want to'. I started to cry but he didn't care. He slapped me across the face.

"I thought 'I'm never going to see my family again, I'm going to die, he is going to kill me'."

She reported Haylemaryam to police and he was interviewed, but not charged because it was her word against his.

It was only when the second victim told the police she had been raped by him that the original investigation was reopened.

In a statement, the Home Office said: "Those who come to the UK must abide by our laws. We take all necessary steps to deport foreign criminals and will seek to deport Mr Haylemaryam as soon as his sentencing allows."

The spokesman would not comment about an individual's immigration history, even that of a convicted, serial rapist.

Ben Butler, projects manager at Asylum-Seekers and Refugees of Kingston Upon Hull (ARKH), said the charity had no record of Haylemaryam on its database, which contains more than 1,800 names.

Mr Butler said: "Ybrah Haylermaryam should be deported. Cases like these feed into the perception that asylum-seekers have the propensity to commit serious crime.

"In reality, as illustrated by a report compiled by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), asylum- seekers are more likely to become victims of crime."

Mr Butler said asylum cases can take considerable amounts of time to resolve.

He said: "It can take years. In the public's mind, it's a case of putting someone on a plane, but it's a complicated area."

Mr Butler explained the basic principles of the asylum process.

"If a person arrives in this country illegally and their application for asylum is subsequently refused, they have the right to appeal," he said.

"If that appeal is refused they become a failed asylum-seeker and can be sent to a detention centre.

"The preferred course of action, from the point of view of the Home Office, is that the person returns to their country of origin voluntarily.

"But if the person refuses to go voluntarily, the Home Office must obtain reassurances that the person will not receive mistreatment on their return.

"All this takes time."

Any further victims of Haylemaryam should call police on 101.