Official statistics have shown that asylum seekers in one English county are approximately 9,000% more likely to commit sexual or violent offences than their share of the local population would indicate, as protests against asylum accommodation—some turning violent—have intensified across Europe in the last week.
British Home Office asylum support data for the end of September 2025 recorded 618 asylum seekers in the Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole council area, where most asylum accommodation is concentrated. With Dorset’s total population at approximately 800,000 to 820,000, and no asylum hotels recorded in the rest of the county, this equates to roughly 0.08% of the local population.
Dorset Police data covering July 2024 to July 2025 shows that individuals from migrant hotels accounted for 116 out of 1,616 recorded sexual offences county-wide—which constitutes approximately 7.2% of the total. This equates to an over-representation factor of roughly 90 times their population share, or approximately 8,875-9,310% higher than would be expected proportionally. When compared to the remaining population, this produces a relative likelihood of approximately 90-102 times higher.
A claim that this was as high as 55,000% has been widely circulated online, based on incorrect reporting that migrant hotel occupants produced 44% of recorded incidents.
Official findings, however, reveal the over-representation remains substantial. Research by europeanconservative.com has confirmed the actual figures. Despite consternation over the veracity of the figures, after a Freedom of Information request responded to by Dorset Police claimed only one case of migrant rape had been recorded in the area committed by an asylum hotel inhabitant, court records reported on by the Daily Mail, nevertheless, reveal that: “In Bournemouth, 116 charges have been brought against 51 asylum seekers living across three hotels near the seafront.”
Dorset Police acknowledged the veracity of the court records when responding to Telegraph journalist Alison Pearson and stated, “The figures mentioned are conviction data from the court system … The crimes may have been committed elsewhere in the country and the figure is based upon the address given to the court at the time of the defendant’s appearance.”
The publication of the Dorset figures comes as community opposition to asylum accommodation reaches levels not seen for several years across Europe. On May 12, rioters in the central Dutch town of Loosdrecht set fire to an asylum shelter, briefly blocking firefighters from reaching the blaze; at least 15 asylum seekers were believed to have been inside the nearby building at the time.
Violent protests against asylum facilities have been flaring across the Netherlands in recent weeks, with police responding to demonstrations simultaneously in Apeldoorn and The Hague. The unrest has been triggered by the consequences of a new law obliging municipalities to provide a proportionate share of asylum placements.
In England, a town on the outskirts of London saw violent protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping on consecutive days in July 2025, after a 38-year-old asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside the hotel; flares and projectiles were thrown at police, and six people were arrested.
European states’ policy of dispersing asylum seekers into hotels and communities has faced growing public opposition. The latest circulation of the Dorset data and the attack in Modena, Italy provide a backdrop for growing fears about safety surrounding the presence of asylum seekers from alien cultures.
