Aspiring Marine Murdered by Afghan Migrant Killer Who Was Let Into UK After Claiming to Be a Child

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai
Dorset Police
Kurt Zindulka

An Afghan migrant, who had already killed two people before stabbing an aspiring British marine to death, was reportedly allowed to enter the UK after he claimed to be a child refugee fleeing the Taliban.

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, who was convicted this week of murdering 21-year-old Thomas Roberts in Bournemouth, was reportedly previously killed two other people in Serbia, had a drug-dealing conviction in Italy, and was rejected for asylum in Norway just weeks before he was permitted to enter the United Kingdom.

During the trial at the Salisbury Crown Court, it was revealed that on the night of the killing in March of last year, Roberts and a friend were on their way home when they were confronted by Abdulrahimzai who started an argument over an e-scooter before stabbing Thomas Roberts to death in the chest with a 10cm blade, The Telegraph reported.

Following his arrest, the Afghan migrant claimed that he was 16-years-old and that he had arrived in the UK as a child two years before. However, this was later proven to be a lie, and that Abdulrahimzai was in reality a 21-year-old man after dental examinations were conducted. The court heard that the illegal had a history of falsifying his age to confuse border officials and that he refused to hand over documents and statements to prove his identity.

It has also emerged that he previously killed two fellow migrants with an AK-47 while they were making their way to Britain in Serbia, which he later convicted for in absence. On his migrant route, Abdulrahimzai was also convicted of dealing drugs in Italy. Finally, just weeks before travelling to the UK, his attempts to apply for asylum in Norway were rejected.

Nevertheless, he was permitted to enter the UK and stay in the country while his asylum application was processed and was even put into a female-run foster home meant for child refugees. Before the fateful night in which he killed the aspiring Royal Marine, the migrant was filmed on social media posing with a knife, assaulting a man on the streets, and engaging in underground fighting for money.

Abdulrahimzai admitted before the court that he had indeed killed Thomas Roberts, but denied that it was murder, claiming that he believed that Roberts was a Taliban agent sent to kill him. The jury, which was barred from hearing of his previous killings in Serbia, rejected his defence, however, and found him guilty of murder this week.

Tobias Ellwood, the MP for Bournemouth East, has called for an investigation too be launched as to “how such a dangerous individual slipped through the net.”

“Did anyone know he had killed twice in Serbia before arriving in the UK? The Home Office has to answer some very serious questions.”

Responding to the report, Brexit leader commented on social media: “The Home Office website reads ‘The first duty of our government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.'”

The problem of migrants posing as children to better their chances of receiving asylum has been a longstanding problem in Britain. In one particularly egregious example, a man estimated to be 38 years old was imported from Calais as part of a scheme to receive child migrants from France. At the time, pro-migration activists attempted to claim that he was not brought over on the basis that he was a child and that he was actually working as a language interpreter for other migrants, but this turned out to be false.

In a separate instance in 2020, parents were forced to object after a child migrant who “looked 40” joined a school in Coventry, England. “He’s got a receding hairline for God’s sake,” one parent exclaimed.

It has been reported that the government is considering implementing legislation that would empower border officials to scan the bones and teeth of illegal migrants to determine their age, yet, such legislation has yet to be put forward.

Responding to the case, a Home Office spokesman said: “Foreign national offenders who exploit our system and commit crimes here in the UK will face the full force of the law, including deportation at the earliest opportunity for those eligible.

“The Government is committed to stopping abuse of the immigration system, taking decisive action against those who try to play the system.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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