A British teenager sexually assaulted by an Iranian illegal immigrant has called for him to be deported after he was jailed, saying: ‘I don’t feel safe with him here.’
Abbie Johnson, 19, was attacked by Ahmadreza Khalafi, 29, during a night out in Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire in the early hours of May 3 last year.
The Christian refugee approached ‘extremely vulnerable’ Miss Johnson at about 2.50am when she was alone in bushes and playing hide-and-seek with friends.
The ten-minute attack was caught on CCTV being monitored by a security guard, who saw what happened and alerted police who arrested Khalafi within minutes.
Video footage was played in court and showed Khalaf following his victim into a bush before carrying out the assault. Miss Johnson chose not to watch the footage.
Khalafi arrived in the UK illegally in a lorry in July 2024 from Iran, where he had been a tractor driver, and was living on Thornbera Gardens in the market town.
On the first day of his trial on December 2, he pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual touching and was remanded into custody ahead of his sentencing last Thursday.
Khalafi was imprisoned at St Albans Crown Court for four-and-a-half years with three years on extended licence. He also received a ten-year restraining order.
Abbie Johnson speaks outside St Albans Crown Court last week after her sex attacker is jailed
Ahmadreza Khalafi, 29, was jailed after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual touching
Miss Johnson was asked how she felt after the sentencing, and told GB News: ‘A lot better, because we were told that it would be about 18 months. So to get four-and-a-half and a three-years extended licence period is brilliant. It is brilliant.
‘I’ll never be able to explain it, because it was the most scariest thing I’ve ever had to do and see like finally seeing the man who done it to me, and him acting as if he’s all sad, and hearing he feels bad for what he’s done, it was really hard.
‘But to watch him go away and be sent off, that was the best feeling. I felt like I had that control back. I felt like before this, he’s had the control the whole time.’
She said it was a ‘very powerful feeling’ to ‘watch him walk down all sad’ after the sentencing, which was ‘a lot longer’ jail term than she had been expecting.
Miss Johnson added: ‘I can’t fault the judge in anything, because I think one of the scariest things, because I know what happened, and my family knows what happened, but it’s making sure the judge believes you as well.
‘So hearing him not believing anything that the guy’s saying, naturally coming into reality, it was like a breath of fresh air to be honest, because it’s like he sees it and he doesn’t think I’m lying, and he sees me as telling the truth. So it was like all my fighting was worth it, really.’
Miss Johnson went on to say she would ‘feel much safer’ if Khalafi was deported.
She explained: ‘We’ve been told things that we don’t know, because it’s not safe and stuff like that, but I don’t feel safe with him here, and this is my home country, so I believe that he should be deported for me to feel safe.
‘Obviously, it’s still a horrible thing. I’m still going to have flashbacks. I’m still going to have all this, but what I’ve got to think is I’ve done it. I’ve fought for it. I got him sent away. He’s punished for what he’s done to me.
Khalafi had been living on Thornbera Gardens (pictured) in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire
‘So now I’ve got my freedom back, I feel and I can move on with my life knowing that all my fighting was worth it, and I got the outcome that I wanted, and I just want to keep spreading awareness for everyone else, so I feel like I can really just move forward with my life now.’
Abbie’s mother Stacey also told GB News: ‘Parents need to be aware that our kids are not safe. If people do come to this country and they commit a crime, to me, that should be instant deportation.
‘We’re not safe in our country now, and I feel like the people that are coming to our country have got more rights and more protection than what we have.’
In court, Miss Johnson read a personal statement in which she described the impact the assault had on her life including the loss of her job.
She said: ‘The effects have been severe, long-lasting, and continue to affect me every single day. I no longer recognise myself, feeling disconnected from the person I used to be.
‘I feel different, empty and unable to live my life the way I did before. I suffer from constant flashbacks and intrusive memories flood my mind. I am scared of the dark. I feel frightened in my own home and feel unsafe doing day-to-day activities.’
Joe Davidson, defending, said Khalafi had refugee status and was a Christian who had fled persecution.
He added that Khalafi had ‘very little formal education, very little cultural understanding of what is acceptable way to behave in England’.
Mr Davidson said: ‘He is mortified by his actions. All he wants to do is go to work, go home and lead a quiet life.’
Khalafi was imprisoned at St Albans Crown Court (file picture) for four-and-a-half years
But police said pre-sentence reports described Khalfi as a high risk of causing sexual harm to women.
Sentencing Khalafi, judge Jonathan Mann described him as a ‘predator’ who carried out a prolonged assault on a vulnerable woman.
He added: ‘Who knows what might have happened if things had been allowed to continue? She had been drinking, but so what? She is entitled to go out drinking and have fun.’
The judge also said: ‘I’m not entirely persuaded you don’t know the difference between right and wrong, it doesn’t matter your background, anyone would know not to go up to a helpless woman and sexually assault them. That’s not right anywhere.’
Following the sentencing, Hertfordshire Police Detective Sergeant Adam Haines said: ‘First and foremost, I would like to commend the victim for the courage she has shown throughout.
‘Whilst I am grateful that she was spared the ordeal of having to go through a trial, preparing for it understandably left the victim feeling extremely stressed and scared. She continues to be deeply affected by Khalafi’s actions to this day.
‘I’d also like to thank the investigation team for their hard work in bringing the case to court and securing a conviction. A sexual predator is now behind bars as a result.’
A Home Office spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘We welcome this judgement, and our thoughts are with the victim of this abhorrent crime.
‘We will not allow foreign criminals and illegal migrants to exploit our laws. We are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system so we can scale up deportations.
‘All Foreign National Offenders who receive a prison sentence in the UK are referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity.’
Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national adult has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence.
However, this automatic deportation is subject to exceptions such as breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights or Refugee Convention.
The Government claims to have returned 5,430 foreign national offenders in the year ending October 2025 – 12 per cent up on the same period 12 months prior.
