Mother of Rhiannon Whyte slams Labour's deportation crisis – 'makes me angerier'
Mother of Rhiannon Whyte slams Labour's deportation crisis – 'makes me even angrier'
EXCLUSIVE: At least 100,000 failed asylum seekers are feared to be living in Britain illegally because they haven't been removed - despite losing all of their appeals.
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Add us as preferred source Comments By Michael Knowles, Home Affairs and Defence Editor 07:00, Sat, Jun 27, 2026 
The heartbroken mother of Rhiannon Whyte has admitted a Sunday Express probe into Labour’s deportation crisis makes her “even angrier about the state of our borders”.
At least 100,000 failed asylum seekers are feared to be living in Britain illegally because they haven’t been removed – despite losing all of their appeals.
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Some 2,000 people who first sought sanctuary in 2010 are still in the UK.
And more than 26,000 have been here for at least a decade despite losing their cases, according to Home Office figures.
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Separate figures published this week suggested there are more than 400,000 migrants living in the UK illegally. This includes failed asylum seekers, absconders, and people overstaying their visas.
Siobhan Whyte, Rhiannon's mother, told the Sunday Express: “They are in denial with it all.
“If they’ve lost count, how are we supposed to know?
“We need to know who is coming into our country. We need to know their criminal backgrounds because they may have committed crimes in their own countries.
“They’ve been through all these other countries and they are coming here. If they are detained at the border, they can be turned back.
“If they are genuine asylum seekers, they would have documentation. It is the illegal ones who are throwing their documentation away. Why?
“They don’t want to be detected.
“It makes me even angrier about the state of our borders. Shabana Mahmood etc is giving millions to France and they are still coming in.
“Why? Why are they allowed?”
In total, 108,022 people refused protection after claiming asylum between 2010 and 2024 have not been removed, according to research by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.
But the true number is almost certainly even higher because the data seen by the Sunday Express only goes back to 2010.
Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek stabbed mother-of-one Rhiannon 23 times in a frenzied 90-second attack after following the 27-year-old to Bescot Road railway station in Walsall in 2024.
She died in hospital three days later. No motive has been established for why Majek attacked her.
Majek had arrived in the UK on a small boat about three months before the attack and applied for asylum.
The Sudanese fiend snatched Rhiannon’s phone and threw it in a river.
And fury erupted after he was spotted dancing and laughing in the migrant hotel car park after the attack.
He was jailed for 29 years in January.
Ms White added: “I have no confidence in this Government at all. I have reached out to Starmer. I have reached out to Shabana Mahmood and I’m just being ignored.
“I won’t be silenced.”
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
