Tory minister claims over ‘loophole lawyers that are grooming people’ to gain asylum

Andrew Griffith said the government’s Rwanda bill would stop people like Abdul Ezedi claiming asylum again

Science minister Andrew Griffith has claimed that “loophole lawyers” are “grooming people” like Clapham attacker Abdul Ezedi to “get through” the UK asylum system.

Mr Griffith said the government’s flagship Safety of Rwanda bill would prevent asylum being given to dangerous individuals, saying: “We do know there are loophole lawyers that are grooming people”.

The minister’s comments follow the disclosure of a raft of court documents that showed Mr Ezedi was granted asylum by a judge who accepted he was a Christian convert despite concerns the sex offender was a liar.

In an interview, a Sky News presenter challenged the minister’s language as “strong” and asked if lawyers were "coaching them", instead.

Mr Griffith replied: "Coaching them, sorry, coaching is a better word. But we know what we’re talking about. This a case where he had not originally claimed asylum on the grounds of his religion.”

Abdul Ezedi, left, being baptised (PA Media)

He added: “Those claims had been rejected. And subsequently, he then claimed asylum on these very different grounds. But let's be clear, the point is that he arrived here illegally in the first place. So that is what we're seeking to change."

The tranche of immigration documents revealed a judge had already refused the Clapham attacker’s application for asylum in 2017 because they did not believe his conversion – which happened in a matter of weeks – was genuine.

However, he was granted leave to remain after successfully convincing a judge on appeal three years later, arguing his new Christian faith could lead to his persecution if he was returned to Afghanistan.

Mr Griffith said the government’s Rwanda legislation would change the asylum system to prevent a similar situation happening again: “We can’t run an asylum system based on credulous clerics and lefty lawyers. That is why we are fundamentally reforming it.”

He added that “the law we are trying to get through the House of Lords right now” would stop “people like the case you mentioned...That would apply to this case, as it would many other cases that people are concerned about.”

The home secretary discussed concerns about the role Christian conversion has played in the asylum system with church leaders (Lucy North/PA Wire)

In the wake of the Clapham attack, home secretary James Cleverly called in church leaders to discuss the issues around the case.

A source close to Mr Cleverly said: “The home secretary called a meeting with the vast majority of senior representatives of Christian denominations in this country in the wake of the appalling attack this man carried out, and the role Christian conversion had played in an asylum tribunal when the Home Office had turned him down twice.

“We wanted to relay the potential damage to those churches of being seen, rightly or wrongly, as acting against the integrity of our asylum system where Christian conversion has been brought up at appeal.

“In this case the consequences were appalling.

They added: “That reputational risk is only amplified by the fact some who denied knowledge of Ezedi at the time had in fact known of him within their church and had supported and vouched for him.”

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called on Mr Cleverly to explain why Mr Ezedi was allowed to reside in the UK for the past two years, calling the court documents “disturbing”: “The latest disturbing revelations about the Abdul Ezedi case raise some serious and urgent questions for the Home Office.

She added: “The home secretary must explain why his department failed to remove Ezedi from the UK in the two years after his first asylum claim was rejected – particularly after he was convicted of sexual offences.”

The Rwanda bill is set to return to the House of Commons after Easter.