SHAUN LOWTHORPE A Norfolk MP is pressing for answers as to why a “lost” asylum seeker was able to slip through the net and carry out a vicious rape on teenager.Yarmouth's Tony Wright has written to home office minister Liam Byrne following the case of Bilal Darioglu, who was jailed for five years on Wednesday following the sex attack on a 19-year-old in the town last October.

SHAUN LOWTHORPE

A Norfolk MP is pressing for answers as to why a "lost" asylum seeker was able to slip through the net and carry out a vicious rape on a teenager.

Yarmouth's Tony Wright has written to home office minister Liam Byrne following the case of Bilal Darioglu, who was jailed for five years on Wednesday following the sex attack on a 19-year-old woman in the town in October.

The 30-year-old from Turkey should have been deported in 2005 after being denied successive asylum applications but is among the thousands of failed asylum seekers the home office let slip through the net.

The case has sparked fresh criticism of the home office from Norfolk MPs and the judge who heard the case.

Mr Wright said the issue needed to be looked at urgently.

"Ministers need to be kept on their toes and this is not going to go away," he said. "There are issues that need to be addressed. I am very concerned and looking for answers.

"If he had exhausted the legal process about his right to remain here and he was told he had to leave, why wasn't he in a holding centre?"

He said the case should be viewed as a one-off and he hoped it did not damage community relations.

"The sad thing is that the vast majority of asylum seekers and the migrant population are law abiding, but you only need to get one case like this and it muddies the waters."