Maidstone Deliveries Turn Homes into Intrusion Zones

Two women in Maidstone opened their doors to a food delivery and encountered sexual assault instead. The perpetrator, Shafiullah Rasooli, an Afghan asylum seeker who overstayed his visa, used a friend’s registration to work illegally. This incident exposes the routine vulnerabilities in everyday British life.

Rasooli entered the UK seeking asylum but remained after his leave expired. His application now stands rejected, yet he evaded detection long enough to take up unregulated delivery work. Gig economy platforms, reliant on unchecked drivers, provided the cover.

On June 26 and July 3, Rasooli delivered meals to the victims’ homes. In each case, he crossed the threshold, made personal comments about their ages and living situations, then groped their breasts and upper bodies. One victim described freezing in fear while he smiled during the act.

The second assault followed a similar pattern. Rasooli offered unsolicited wine from a prior delivery, then repeated the touching after fetching it. He seized one woman’s phone to input his number and called her twice afterward, amplifying her terror.

Victims suffered lasting effects. One installed CCTV and security lights, lost her job from sleepless paranoia, and declared her home no longer safe. The other wept during trial testimony, reliving the violation in her own space.

Rasooli denied the charges, claiming such contact constituted a cultural goodbye in Afghanistan. Magistrates at Sevenoaks rejected this on October 1, convicting him on three counts. Yet sentencing drags on.

Arrested in August, Rasooli has spent over 11 weeks in custody. A pre-sentence probation report, delayed until December 3, stalled proceedings at Margate Magistrates’ Court on October 21. The bench then transferred the case to Canterbury Crown Court, with no date set.

Prosecutors noted his immigration status as a remand factor—no fixed address meant flight risk. Yet this highlights enforcement gaps: overstayers operate freely until caught in unrelated crimes. Home Office data shows over 50,000 asylum cases pending removal as of mid-2024, many unresolved for years.

Illegal work thrives in this vacuum. Delivery apps like those Rasooli exploited verify identities minimally, often through borrowed credentials. The Migration Observatory reports thousands of undocumented migrants in low-wage sectors, undercutting legal labor and evading taxes.

Public safety erodes through these fissures. Kent Police investigated promptly, but the incident underscores national trends: sexual offenses rose 20% from 2019 to 2023, per ONS figures, with home invasions contributing to heightened female anxiety. Trust in doorstep interactions fractures.

Governments across parties pledge border control—Labour’s 1997 reforms, Tory post-Brexit promises, now Starmer’s returns deal. Delivery falls short. Overstayers numbered 191,000 in 2022 estimates, many absorbed into informal economies without oversight.

Accountability remains elusive. Rasooli faces deportation post-sentence, but systemic delays persist. The asylum backlog hit 175,000 by 2024, with 90% of small boat arrivals granted bail or release, per Home Office stats. Offenders slip through.

This case reveals institutional inertia. Platforms profit from lax ID checks; enforcement agencies juggle backlogs; victims bear the cost in fear and disruption. Ordinary citizens, ordering dinner, now weigh risks in their routines.

Britain’s decline manifests in these quiet betrayals. Secure homes and reliable systems once defined the social contract. Now, unchecked migration and judicial bottlenecks turn mundane acts into hazards, diminishing lives one intrusion at a time.