An asylum seeker has been found guilty of two counts of raping a woman in a park in Nottinghamshire.
A trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard the 18-year-old woman had been drinking at Sutton Lawn park in Sutton-in-Ashfield when she was attacked by Sheraz Malik, shortly after being raped by another man he was with.
Malik, 28, had claimed the sex was consensual, but the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on two counts of rape and a not guilty verdict on a third.
It can be now reported that Malik is an asylum seeker who was born in Pakistan and lived in Italy, Germany and France before coming to the UK.
The judge adjourned the case for a mention hearing on 6 February so a date for sentencing Malik – who lived at an address in Bath Street in Sutton-in-Ashfield at the time – could be fixed.
A reporting restriction was put in place at Nottingham Crown Court in September last year, preventing any mention of the defendant’s immigration status until the trial had concluded.
The case had prompted protests in the town after Lee Anderson, Reform UK MP for Ashfield, posted about it in social media.
After highlighting the suspect’s background on his Facebook and X accounts, demonstrators gathered in the town to demand tighter rules on immigration.
Counter-protesters also turned out, but Nottinghamshire Live reported these were outnumbered.
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