Asylum seeker Mehmet Ogur (Image: PA)
A Kurdish asylum seeker who raped a teenage girl after luring her to a park online has been jailed for seven years. Mehmet Ogur, 27, who was being housed in a migrant hotel after arriving in the UK illegally by small boat, attacked his 18-year-old victim within weeks of arriving in the UK by small boat.
He pounced on the terrified teenager after they arranged to meet in person for the first time in a secluded Midlands park. Ogur, who was living at the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, forced himself on his victim last January and later sent her messages saying he was sorry for what he had done. He then claimed Google Translate had altered the meaning of messages.
The migrant was found guilty of rape and attempted rape following a trial at Stafford Crown Court last summer after denying any wrongdoing.
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The sex beast, who is a trained veterinary technician, showed no apparent emotion in the dock as he was jailed today.
Passing sentence, Judge John Edwards told Ogur, who was assisted in court by a Turkish interpreter, that the rape had caused “immense harm” to the victim.
The judge told Ogur, who arrived in Britain on a small boat just weeks before his brutal attack: “Your continued stay in the United Kingdom will be for others to determine, not for me.”
The judge accepted that Ogur was “plainly a man of intelligence” who had witnessed extreme violence before being “grabbed from the middle of the sea” and arriving in Britain.
Mehmet arrived in the UK on a small boat (Image: PA)
In a victim impact statement which she read to the court prior to sentencing, the victim said: “I’m a survivor of rape by Mehmet Ogur.
“No words can explain what he put me through. He completely changed me as a person.
“The truth is I don’t think I’ll ever get through it. He completely destroyed me.”
Saying she wanted to fight for herself and “every single other girl that’s too scared to speak up” and get justice, the victim, who cannot be named, added: “It’s been nearly a year since you raped me but it still feels like yesterday.
“Why me, why did you choose me to completely destroy when all I did was show kindness and empathy towards you?”
People thought to be migrants wade through the sea to board a small boat in Gravelines, France. Pict (Image: PA)
Joseph McKenna, defending, told the court in mitigation that the defendant was suffering from anxiety and depression, having experienced “difficult circumstances” as a Kurd in Turkey.
The trial was told Ogur attacked the woman after consensual cuddling and kissing, during a meeting in a secluded area of the grounds of Tamworth Castle.
A jury of seven women and five men convicted Ogur after hearing how the victim screamed for him to stop as she tried to struggle free.
Ogur gave a false account to his trial, claiming he had only engaged in consensual activity and that messages he sent to the woman a day after the offence were not admissions of guilt.
One of the messages, the court heard, read “I am really sorry, I didn’t actually want to do this but I couldn’t stop myself” while another stated “I am sorry for trying to force you to have sex”.
The prosecutor at Ogur’s trial described the messages as a “full and complete admission” to the offences.
Commenting after the case, Sachan Gautam, a senior crown prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service West Midlands specialist rape and serious sexual offences unit, said: “This was a deeply distressing case in which Mehmet Ogur deliberately ignored the victim’s clear refusal of consent.
“His behaviour escalated from unwanted advances to a violent and traumatic rape.
“The CPS worked closely with Staffordshire Police to build a strong case, including forensic evidence about injuries she received, CCTV and the victim’s courageous testimony, which ultimately led to his conviction.”
The Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth was set on fire and damaged by rioters in August 2024, days after the Southport dance class stabbings. Several people were later jailed for their parts in the disorder.
