Hani Khalaf: Hyde Park killer and the problem with immigrants
In today’s Daily Express, it’s another game of join the dots, of which there are just two. Page 5 tells readers of an “illegal immigrant” called Hani Khalaf. He’s been handed a 26-year prison sentence for murdering Jairo Medina, beating the man to death in London’s Hyde Park.
Khalaf, an Egyptian national, arrived in the UK in the back of lorry back in 2014, posing as a Syrian asylum seeker.
Judge Wendy Joseph QC tells the court:
“It is clear that Hani Khalaf, having absconded, came to the attention of authorities on at least six occasions. On each, he was re-bailed because they could not make arrangements for securing his deportation in a reasonable amount of time.”
The news is part of a page given over to immigration stories.
Immigration Special.
The phone poll on the same page asks: “Is Britain still letting in too many migrants?”
The story of how Hani Khalaf was free to murder is troubling. Why was a man in the country illegally not dealt with by the authorities? Joseph makes the valid point that Khalaf had no way of “lawfully maintaining himself”. How can man in the country illegally keep the rules?
So much for the Express. But how do the other paper report on the story?
The Daily Telegraph leads with the killer’s legal status:
Illegal immigrant murdered man in Hyde Park after Home Office repeatedly failed to deport him
It tells readers that the victim, a carer by profession, was born in Colombia. He was a Colombian national. The Express omits that fact. The Express also doesn’t say that Mr Medina, a migrant, has, according to his sister, won an award in 2015 for his “service to care in London”.
The paper adds:
The day before he [Khalaf] met Mr Medina, he was arrested for shoplifting in Regent Street and gave police the false name he had previously given to immigration officials.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and was bailed hours before the killing.
On August 11, Khalaf met Mr Medina in Hyde Park, where the victim had gone hoping to have sex with a younger man, the court heard.
Khalaf murdered and robbed Mr Medina. The judge ruled that it was a “murder for gain”.
Over in the London Evening Standard, the killer’s status is is once more the leading fact:
Illegal immigrant jailed for beating carer Jairo Medina to death in London’s Hyde Park
It was only good police work that saw Khalaf arrested:
Khalaf was arrested on August 16 for fare evasion and told police he was Hanni Hassan and later gave the name Khalaf, prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC said.
Then on August 18, he was arrested again for shoplifting and taken to Charing Cross police station, where an “eagle-eyed” police officer recognised him from CCTV as the suspect seen with Mr Medina on the night of his death.
The BBC delivers the headline:
“Illegal immigrant jailed for Hyde Park murder”
And in the Guardian? Well, this is the headline:
It’s story begins:
A homeless man has been jailed for at least 26 years for murdering a “kind and peace-loving” carer…
To the Guardian, it is not Khalaf’s illegality that matters most. “Homeless man jailed for Hyde Park murder,” says the headline. Its report carries not a single mention of the words “migrant”, “illegal immigrant” or “immigrant”.
The Express and Guardian both massage the facts to fit an agenda. Neither is helpful.
Posted: 25th, August 2017 | In: Broadsheets, News, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
