The Home Secretary has called for more information to be released about suspects who are accused of serious offences.
Yvette Cooper told Sky News on Tuesday that she wants there to be more detail about people who are suspected of committing crimes, particularly when people have been charged.
It comes after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for police forces to release the immigration status of people who are charged with crimes, as he claimed there was a “cover-up” of details about an alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton.
Two men who are reportedly Afghan asylum seekers have been charged in relation to the alleged incident in the Warwickshire town.
Speaking to Sky News, Yvette Cooper said: “We want more information and transparency to be provided. We have said this for some time. It is why we have asked the Law Commission to accelerate their review into the issues around contempt of court, because that’s about what information can be released once there are legal proceedings underway, once there is a trial process underway.
“We want that accelerated because we want more information to be provided.”
The Home Secretary pointed to a recent example where it was revealed that a group of Iranian men charged with spying offences had arrived in the country by “irregular means,” including small boats and a lorry, before claiming asylum.
She continued: “When we had the recent national security and terrorism investigations, high-profile cases, the police announced immediately that the people they had arrested were Iranian. The Crown Prosecution Service explained once they made the charges that some of those suspects were in the immigration and asylum system.”
She added: “Where there are charges, particularly, we do want to see more information. We do recognise issues around there being a fair trial and that’s why we are doing this through the law commission process rather than on an ad hoc basis.”
Ms Cooper appeared to echo some of the sentiments expressed by Mr Farage during a press conference on Monday.
Asked at a press conference whether the police should release the names, addresses and immigration status of people after they have been charged with an offence, Mr Farage said: “What caused unrest on our streets after Southport last year was us not being told the status of the attacker.
“That led to crazy conspiracy theories spreading online.”
At the same press conference, Mr Farage linked a perceived lack of information from police about what happened in Nuneaton to what happened in Southport last July, saying he wanted to discuss a “cover-up that in many ways is reminiscent of what happened after the Southport killings last year”.
He later told the event: “It is not … in any way at all a contempt of court for the British public to know the identity of those who allegedly have committed serious crimes.
“I felt that in the wake of the Southport attacks, and I feel that ever more strongly today.”
Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, was arrested on July 26 and charged the next day with rape, according to Warwickshire Police.
He appeared at Coventry Magistrates’ Court last Monday and has been remanded in custody.
Mohammad Kabir, 23, was arrested in Nuneaton on Thursday and charged with kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting rape of a girl under 13, the force added.
He appeared at Coventry Magistrates’ Court on Saturday and has been remanded in custody.
Warwickshire Police did not deny a Mail On Sunday report which said Mulakhil and Kabir are asylum seekers.
