MoD still spending £1m on Bassingbourn barracks closed after series of sex attacks by Libyan cadets

The barracks in Cambridgeshire were closed last year after a string of sex attacks by Libyan soldiers posted there

Bassingbourne Barracks in Cambridgeshire where the soldiers were based at the time of the attacks (PA)

The Ministry of Defence has spent over £1m on empty barracks which were shut a year ago after a series of sex attacks by Libyan soldiers posted there.

According to figures obtained by the BBC through a Freedom of Information request, the MoD has spent £946,659 on bills and £138,000 on repairs for the Bassingbourn barracks near Cambridge.

The barracks were shut in 2014 after five Libyan men were jailed for sex attacks against three women and one man.

Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, were both sentenced to 12 years in prison for the rape of a man in October 2014.

On the same night, Khaled El Azibi, 19, Ibrahim Naji El Maarfi, 21, and Mohammed Abdalsalam, 28, stole bicycles to ride in Cambridge city centre where they assaulted three women in the early hours of the morning.

Naji El Maarfi, Khaled El Azibi and Mohammed Abdalsalam (l-r) were convicted of attacking the three women and sentenced to between 10 and 12 months in prison (Cambridge Police)

El Azibi was sentenced to 12 months in prison and El Maarfi and Abdalsalam were sentenced to 10 months.

All three have since been released and are now seeking asylum in the UK.

According to the figures, the MoD has paid £544,659 in business rates and £402,000 in utilities but the department refused to disclose how much it spent to pay for 24 hour security at the site.

The MoD told the BBC: "We continue to pay for utilities as the barracks remain in use and those on site need access to electricity and water.

"Bassingbourn is a very large site so naturally running costs are high.

"The MoD is currently considering the site's future use."

The Bassingbourn barracks was initially closed as an army training centre in 2012 but was reopened two years later as part of a scheme to train Libyan soldiers to support their fledgling democratic government.