Campaigners and MPs have condemned the catalogue of failures that allowed a mentally ill asylum seeker to roam the streets before he slashed a stranger 30 times.

In a case that highlights some of the worst fears over the Channel migrant crisis, Ibrahim Albashir, who was refused asylum in France after spending six months at a mental hospital, turned to people smugglers to cross from Calais.

By February 2024, the Sudanese man, who has catatonic schizophrenia, was at a hostel in Birmingham in accommodation understood to have been provided by the Home Office.

Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘It’s shameful that France allowed this man to roam free and eventually cross the Channel. Sadly, stories like this are all too common.

‘Dangerous young male illegal immigrants are flooding across the Channel and going on to commit crimes. Women and girls here are not safe as a result.

‘This evil man has not only ruined his victim’s life but will now cost British taxpayers millions to keep in prison and hospital.’

Nick Timothy, Tory justice spokesman, said: ‘This monster should never have been in our country in the first place – and there were clearly missed opportunities to stop him before he conducted this vile attack.’

Emma Webber, whose teenage son Barnaby was one of three people killed by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in 2023, said the similarities between both cases were ‘chilling and deeply concerning’.

She added: ‘Once again, we see a man in his 30s entering the UK with limited public understanding of his history, circumstances, or risk factors. There are parallels that cannot be ignored.’

Albashir, while he was staying in Birmingham, sexually assaulted a member of staff when she refused his offer of sex, Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

A complaint was made to West Midlands Police and the 34-year-old was arrested in Norfolk seven days later. He was bailed and the investigation was shelved due to a lack of evidence.

Albashir, who also spent time in Luton, Coventry and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, was in Leeds the following month.

He found himself in the city only because he was kicked off a train from Manchester to York for not having a ticket.

Read More: Fury over litany of failures that left a migrant free to slash an innocent woman 30 times with a broken bottle