Asylum seekers given lengthy prison sentences for rape of woman on Brighton beach

Two asylum seekers have been given lengthy prison sentences for repeatedly raping a woman on Brighton beach, while a third who filmed the attack has also been jailed.

The woman had been separated from her friends on a night out when two of the men took her behind a beach hut and raped her, while the third went to the location moments later and captured footage of the attack.

Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, from Egypt, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran, had both denied two counts each of raping the woman on 4 October last year. They were found guilty.

The pair were jailed for 21 years each at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday.

Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, was also found guilty of all four counts of rape as a secondary party by encouraging and filming the ordeal.

He was sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison.

All three will serve a further six years on extended licence.

During the trial at Hove Crown Court, jurors heard the trio had found the woman "staggering in the street", alone and "incapacitated".

Footage showed her falling down twice, with prosecutors describing the attack as "cynical, predatory and callous".

Alshafe was also shown smiling and sticking his tongue out during the assault, as well as slapping the woman in the face.

At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the woman read a victim impact statement saying: "They destroyed my life that night, they took something from me nobody had the right to do so.

"They violated me in every way."

Sentencing the men, Judge Christine Henson KC said: "Each of you participated in an entirely predatory and callous attack on a female separated from her friends after what had been a fun night out for her.

"You each treated her with contempt and you each played a role in degrading her in the most appalling way."

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC described the men as "devoid of humanity" and their treatment of the woman was "entirely predatory, callous and contemptuous".

She described the impact on the woman as "extreme".

In her victim impact statement, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added: "They took something from me that night I'm afraid I will never get back.

"To not take accountability for their actions [is] like sticking a knife in and twisting it again."

She told the court that when she closes her eyes she sees the man filming it and "laughing at me".

"My skin crawls. No matter how hard I scrub it, I still feel dirty," she added.

During the trial, all three men gave evidence through translators to deny the crimes.

Ms Llewellyn-Waters said their accounts provided "clear and chilling insight into a wholly warped mindset" and a "total lack of remorse".

Alshafe and Ahmadi had claimed during the trial the encounter was consensual and that she had approached them along the seafront, kissed and touched them both, mentioned something about sex and took them both to the beach.

Al-Danasurt, who claimed to jurors he attempted to stop the attack by filming it, also denied he spat in the woman's mouth and called her a "dirty b****".

At the time of the incident, all three defendants knew each other and were living at hotel accommodation for asylum seekers near Horsham, West Sussex.

The court heard Ahmadi and Alshafe met on a small boat which arrived in the UK from France in June 2025. Al-Danasurt had arrived in the country in October 2024.

Ministers have vowed to deport the men after they were sentenced.

(c) Sky News 2026: Asylum seekers given lengthy prison sentences for rape of woman on Brighton beach