A 26-year-old migrant has been found guilty of sexually assaulting three women in separate attacks while cycling to his taxpayer-funded asylum hotel near Gatwick Airport.
Qais Al-Aswad, 26, carried out the assaults along the same cycle route in Horley, Surrey, as he travelled from his job at a local car wash to the four-star Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, which is currently being used to house asylum seekers.
The offences
-
May 23, 9pm: Al-Aswad slapped a woman’s bottom from behind as she walked home with her mother after leaving a pub.
-
June 4, 9pm: He groped a second woman by “grabbing and squeezing” her bottom along the same route.
-
June 12, 10:45am: He sexually assaulted a third victim near a Waitrose, reaching out to grab her crotch as he cycled past.
Victims described feeling “violated” and “shocked,” with one saying: “It all happened really quickly and I was caught off guard.”
-
His trainers and clothes were borrowed by friends.
-
A “homeless Egyptian friend” used his bike and belongings.
-
He insisted he was at work during the June 12 assault.
He also told the court through an interpreter:
“I left my country. I left my wife and kids in the camp and seek safety… I have not assaulted any women.”
Verdict and sentencing
Al-Aswad was convicted of all three sexual assaults. Judge Cooper remanded him in custody for sentencing, pending a pre-sentence report, and told him:
“These are sexual offences and I need to know more about you before I can sentence you.”
He will be sentenced on 1 October 2025.
The case comes just weeks after protests outside the Sheraton Hotel on August 2, where campaigners expressed anger over asylum housing policies.
Read more from Staines-upon-Thames.
