An asylum seeker from Pakistan who committed rape in a Nottinghamshire park has been jailed for 10 years.
Sheraz Malik’s victim was described as a “particularly vulnerable” 18-year-old woman who had been drinking alcohol prior to the offence.
The 28-year-old defendant claimed the sex was consensual, but was found guilty of two counts of rape by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court in January. Malik’s sentencing to 10 years in custody, plus four years on extended licence, took into account his violence and hostility towards the victim, who testified against him.
An asylum seeker born in Pakistan, Malik lived in France, Germany, and Italy before coming to Britain, where he was settled for fewer than 12 months before committing the attack. He claimed his offence took place after he smoked cannabis, and it is known, horrifically, that he acted immediately after an unknown associate—who remains at large—also raped the same woman.
Previously, prosecution counsel Nicholas Corsellis KC told the court how the defendant
decided he wished to have sex with her and took his turn to take her to a secluded spot, where he physically struck her while raping her.
The judge concluded Malik posed “a significant risk” to the public, and had neither shown remorse nor taken responsibility for the assault.
In September last year, Nottingham Crown Court prompted public anger by imposing a reporting restriction preventing any mention of the defendant’s immigration status until the conclusion of his trial. Critics of the decision included Reform UK MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson and hundreds of locals who took part in protests in 2025.
The news comes as a further blow to the reputation of the East Midlands county of Nottinghamshire, where last week a public inquiry concluded, revealing how multiple institutional failures in the city of Nottingham facilitated an attempted mass casualty attack by Valdo Calocane.
