Police ‘Toned Down’ Statement of Mother Whose Hotel Worker Daughter Was Murdered by an Asylum Seeker in Case It Led to Race Riots

Police ‘guided’ the family of a hotel worker in ‘toning down’ their public statements after she was murdered by an asylum seeker – in case their words led to anti-immigration rioting.

Rhiannon Whyte, 27, was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver by Sudanese national Deng Majek while waiting at a train station in October 2024.

Majek, 28, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison in January, then spent the night dancing and drinking in the car park of Park Inn Hotel in Bescot, Walsall, where Rhiannon worked.

Her death came three months after the fatal stabbings of three young girls in Southport by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, a British citizen of Rwandan descent.

Anti-migrant riots broke out following misinformation which was circulated online claiming that Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker who had recently arrived in Britain on a small boat.

Now, Rhiannon’s mother, Siobhan, has claimed police said they didn’t want ‘another Southport’ when she told them her daughter’s life support was to be turned off.

She said: ‘Did they tell us what to say? No. Did they guide us so it didn’t look so aggressive? Maybe. I was aggressive – they toned it down.’

Ms Whyte – who stresses that she is grateful for the help she received from the police in the aftermath of her daughter’s murder – added: ‘I think they didn’t want violence… they didn’t want a riot.’

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When Rhiannon’s family told police they were turning off her life support, officers quickly removed migrants from the Park Inn Hotel where Majek had been living and where Rhiannon was on the staff.

Ms Whyte added: ‘Those migrants were out within two hours – I think that’s because [the police] feared violence.’

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