{"success":true,"data":{"id":"1b51c2ef-fdcb-4819-a05d-1d57a5ae70b8","title":"Three men who raped woman on Brighton beach jailed","summary":"Site search News Business Technology Culture Arts Travel Earth Audio Video Live Documentaries Three men who raped woman on Brighton beach jailed 4 hours ago Share Save Piers Hopkirk,at Hove Crown Court and Patrick Barlow,South East Sussex Police Abdulla Ahmadi (left), Ibrahim Alshafe (centre) and Ka...","content":"Site search \n\nNews\n\nBusiness\n\nTechnology\n\nCulture\n\nArts\n\nTravel\n\nEarth\n\nAudio\n\nVideo\n\nLive\n\nDocumentaries\n\n# Three men who raped woman on Brighton beach jailed\n\n4 hours ago\n\nShare Save\n\nPiers Hopkirk,at Hove Crown Court and\n\nPatrick Barlow,South East\n\n![Image 1](https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/bbcdotcom/web/20260706-130254-01dc7bae3c-web-3.13.0-4/grey-placeholder.png)![Image 2: Sussex Police Three pictures of men's faces up close. They all have brown eyes. ](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ad13/live/2436ae30-3f21-11f1-80a9-03674e4a073c.jpg.webp)Sussex Police\n\nAbdulla Ahmadi (left), Ibrahim Alshafe (centre) and Karin Al-Danasurt (right) have been sentenced over the rape of a woman on Brighton Beach\n\nThree men who raped a woman on Brighton beach in an \"entirely predatory, callous and contemptuous\" attack have been jailed.\n\nAsylum seekers Abdulla Ahmadi, Ibrahim Alshafe and Karin Al-Danasurt attacked the woman in the early hours of 4 October.\n\nThe victim, who jurors heard was \"led into the darkness to be used as a sexual plaything\", said she still heard their laughter when she closed her eyes, adding: \"My skin crawls - no matter how hard I scrub it I still feel dirty.\"\n\nAhmadi, 26, from Iran, and Alshafe, 26, from Egypt, were each jailed for 21 years. Al-Danasurt, 21, also from Egypt, was convicted of rape as a secondary party for filming the attack and was jailed for 18 years and six months.\n\nSentencing the three men at Hove Crown Court, Her Honour Judge Christine Henson KC said each of them \"participated in an entirely predatory and callous attack\".\n\nShe added: \"The impact on your victim was and continues to be devastating. It has had a life changing profound and irrevocable impact on her.\"\n\nEach of the men, who were living in a Home Office hotel in Horsham at the time of the offence, will also spend a further six years on extended licence, and will serve two thirds of their sentence before they can be considered for parole.\n\n_**Warning: Some readers may find the following details distressing.**_\n\n[The court previously heard from prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyv0vqp04pgo), who said the three men were \"on the lookout for women that night for sexual purposes\" as they visited bars and nightclubs on Brighton seafront.\n\nAfter leaving a club, the men crossed paths with the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, at a fast-food restaurant and they all went to the beach.\n\nJurors heard the woman was \"staggering in the street\" and was \"incapacitated\".\n\nAlshafe and Ahmadi took her behind a beach hut, where they raped her while Al-Danasurt filmed the ordeal.\n\nThe trial heard the woman recalled being spat on, kicked and her throat being grabbed during the attack.\n\n![Image 3](https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/bbcdotcom/web/20260706-130254-01dc7bae3c-web-3.13.0-4/grey-placeholder.png)![Image 4: Eddie Mitchell A man in grey clothing and handcuffs is with two security officers beside a brick wall and metal fencing.](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c2fb/live/7d890150-3296-11f1-8cba-9df81803c83c.jpg.webp)Eddie Mitchell\n\nAlshafe was described as a \"predator\" in court\n\nAlshafe and Ahmadi had tried to claim during the trial the encounter was consensual, while Al-Danasurt claimed he was filming to try to help the woman by capturing potential evidence.\n\nTheir victim said she had regained consciousness lying on the beach and thought she was going to be killed.\n\nBreaking down in tears, she told the court that every time she closed her eyes she saw \"the filmer's face\" laughing at her.\n\n## 'Noises never stop'\n\nIn a statement read to the court, the woman said: \"If I could do one thing, I would go back to that night and never go out.\n\n\"All I see when I close my eyes is the man who was filming it. All I can hear is the seagulls and the waves and the laughter in my head.\"\n\nShe said: \"Sometimes it feels like the noises will never stop.\n\n\"I ask myself what kind of person would do this, let alone three.\"\n\nShe continued: \"My skin crawls no matter how hard I scrub it I still feel dirty.\n\n\"I doubt I will ever be able to visit the beach down there ever again.\n\n\"They took something from me that no one had a right to do so.\"\n\n![Image 5](https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/bbcdotcom/web/20260706-130254-01dc7bae3c-web-3.13.0-4/grey-placeholder.png)![Image 6: Eddie Mitchell A man in a white uniform leads a man in dark clothing, who he is handcuffed to, out the side of a white prison van. They are pictured behind a grey wire fence.](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1253/live/64b9e990-2211-11f1-92d6-8945044e64f7.jpg.webp)Eddie Mitchell\n\nAbdulla Ahmadi had tried to claim during the trial the encounter was consensual\n\nThe court was told the three defendants knew each other and were living at Home Office-approved hotel accommodation for asylum seekers in Lower Beeding, near Horsham, West Sussex.\n\nAhmadi and Alshafe met on a small boat from France arriving in the UK in June 2025, while Alshafe and Al-Danasurt, who arrived in the UK in October 2024, were roommates at the hotel.\n\nThe evening before the attack the three got ready at the hotel before getting a bus into Brighton.\n\nThe jury was told that during the night out, the friends went to a bar and nightclub on the beach where Alshafe chatted to a woman using Google Translate about his hopes to marry a woman and have children and get citizenship in the UK.\n\nThe prosecution told the court he had been a \"nasty little predator\" that night who had been rejected by several women and was \"on the prowl\" with the co-defendants.\n\nAfter the attack, the men returned to their hotel by bus and had a barbecue later that evening, the jury heard.\n\n## 'Arrogant and entitled'\n\nJudge Henson said: \"You each treated her with contempt and you each played a role in further degrading her in the most appalling way.\n\n\"The arrogant and entitled attitude you each displayed that night continued through your trial.\"\n\nShe also praised the victim, saying: \"I hope that she can now focus on her tremendous bravery that she has demonstrated by contacting police and giving evidence to the jury allowing each of you to be brought to justice.\n\n\"It is my hope that she can now start to rebuild her life.\"\n\nSpeaking outside court, Sussex Police Ch Supt Karrie Bohanna also thanked the victim for her bravery, adding: \"It is thanks to her bravery in the face of that trauma that three dangerous, predatory men no longer pose any threat to women and girls in Sussex.\"\n\nShe added: \"Today's sentence will rightly see these three men face years behind bars.\"\n\nHome Office minister Alex Norris described the case as \"nothing short of gut wrenching\".\n\n![Image 7](https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/bbcdotcom/web/20260706-130254-01dc7bae3c-web-3.13.0-4/grey-placeholder.png)![Image 8: Piers Hopkirk / BBC Two woman stood next to each other on steps outside a court building.](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/be4b/live/0112a5c0-8059-11f1-a10f-077d9cf2208e.jpg.webp)Piers Hopkirk / BBC\n\nSussex Police Ch Supt Karrie Bohanna, left, and DI Kirstie Neal outside Hove Crown Court\n\nIn a statement from the victim, read by Sussex Police DI Kirstie Neal, she thanked the officers involved in the case, who \"restored my faith in the police\".\n\nShe added: \"I wasn't going to report what happened at first, but I'm so glad I did, and was able to get justice.\n\n\"I don't think I will ever get over what happened, but hopefully they are in prison, the night will be a little less long.\"\n\nOn Wednesday the prosecution said the sentencing court should make its decision on the risk posed by the defendants \"without regards to possibility that one day a defendant may be deported\".\n\nMinisters have vowed to deport the men after they were sentenced.\n\n_Additional reporting by PA Media_\n\n_Follow BBC Sussex on_[_Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/BBCSussex/)_,_[_X_](https://x.com/BBCSussex)_, and on_[_Instagram_](https://www.instagram.com/bbcsussex/)_and listen to BBC Radio Sussex_[_on Sounds_](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live/bbc_radio_sussex)_. Send your story ideas to_[_southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk_](mailto:southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk%C2%A0)_or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250._\n\nMore on this story\n\nRelated internet links\n\nBBC in other languages\n\n### The BBC is in multiple languages\n\n#### Read the BBC In your own language\n\nFollow BBC on:","source_name":"BBC News","source_url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyv0vqp04pgo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","url":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyv0vqp04pgo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss","author":"Unknown Author","author_name":"Unknown Author","published_at":"2026-07-15T14:35:34.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-15T14:35:34.000Z","image_url":"https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ad13/live/2436ae30-3f21-11f1-80a9-03674e4a073c.jpg.webp","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":7,"word_count":1259,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot"}}