The family of a schoolgirl brutally gang raped broke their silence and called for an end to Britain's immigration shambles

Blackpool Today:

And they have won the backing of a former Home Office minister who agrees that tougher action is needed.

The Blackpool family, who cannot be identified to protect the victim's identity, are calling for tighter controls on the country's borders and greater deportation powers.

It comes after a 15-year-old girl was raped by four Iraqi men in May last year.

One of her attackers, failed asylum seeker Awat Ahmed, was jailed for five years in February.

He had previously been rejected for asylum, but had fled to Blackpool. His three accomplices have never been caught.

Then, last week, two illegal immigrants, Puppy Parmar and Sandeep Chauhan, were jailed for a similar gang attack on another teenager in the resort in July.

The father of the first victim said: "I think we've a moral duty to help people from other countries, but our laws are allowing murderers and rapists to cross our borders.

"Of course, we should take asylum seekers, if they genuinely need help, but animals like Ahmed are being allowed to commit terrible crimes by failing legislation.

"We're letting anyone in and they are attacking our children. While this law remains, no-one can say their child is totally safe."

Fylde MP Michael Jack, who has previously branded the system a "shambles", says immigration laws are "absurd" and need a major overhaul.

The former Conservative Home Office minister said: "The Government has no idea how many illegal immigrants are in the country and no mechanisms for tracing whether those who have had applications refused have left the country or not.

"We need a much tougher, better organised system."

Since the attack on their daughter, the Blackpool family has been striving to bring about a change in the laws.

Ahmed arrived in Britain in the back of the truck and slipped under the asylum radar when his application to stay was rejected twice, only to turn up in Blackpool to commit his sickening crime.

But, the family's attempts to make a difference have been met with a stony response from Downing Street.

They put their concerns to immigration and citizenship minister Tony McNulty but feel let down by the response.

In a written reply, Mr McNulty talks of the New Asylum Model which will "introduce faster, tightly-managed processes for all new asylum claimants" before reassuring "there are sufficient measures in place to remove unsuccessful asylum applicants".

The victim's father added: "We need to get tough, like they do in America. If they don't want you in the country, you are not allowed to go out and commit crimes, you are on a plane out of there straight away.

"People will talk about human rights but what about the human rights for the victims of these crimes? What about my daughter's rights?"

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