Campaigners and MPs have condemned the catalogue of failures that allowed a mentally ill asylum seeker to roam the streets before he slashed a stranger 30 times.

In a case that highlights some of the worst fears over the Channel migrant crisis, Ibrahim Albashir, who was refused asylum in France after spending six months at a mental hospital, turned to people smugglers to cross from Calais.

By February 2024, the Sudanese man, who has catatonic schizophrenia, was at a hostel in Birmingham in accommodation understood to have been provided by the Home Office.

Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘It’s shameful that France allowed this man to roam free and eventually cross the Channel. Sadly, stories like this are all too common.

‘Dangerous young male illegal immigrants are flooding across the Channel and going on to commit crimes. Women and girls here are not safe as a result.

‘This evil man has not only ruined his victim’s life but will now cost British taxpayers millions to keep in prison and hospital.’

Nick Timothy, Tory justice spokesman, said: ‘This monster should never have been in our country in the first place – and there were clearly missed opportunities to stop him before he conducted this vile attack.’

Emma Webber, whose teenage son Barnaby was one of three people killed by paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in 2023, said the similarities between both cases were ‘chilling and deeply concerning’.

Migrant Ibrahim Albashir was spoken to by police twice in the three days before he attempted to murder a lone woman in Leeds 

The Original Oak pub in the Headingley area of Leeds where Albashir stabbed a woman 30 times 

She added: ‘Once again, we see a man in his 30s entering the UK with limited public understanding of his history, circumstances, or risk factors. There are parallels that cannot be ignored.’

Albashir, while he was staying in Birmingham, sexually assaulted a member of staff when she refused his offer of sex, Leeds Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

A complaint was made to West Midlands Police and the 34-year-old was arrested in Norfolk seven days later. He was bailed and the investigation was shelved due to a lack of evidence.

Albashir, who also spent time in Luton, Coventry and Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, was in Leeds the following month.

He found himself in the city only because he was kicked off a train from Manchester to York for not having a ticket.

On March 14, he was arrested at the city’s train station by British Transport Police on suspicion of immigration offences. He was spoken to by police twice in the three days before he attempted to murder a lone woman.

Albashir was taken into custody by West Yorkshire Police officers but it was determined no offences had been committed as his asylum application was ongoing. A check was also made on the Police National Computer database, but despite his arrest in Birmingham, Albashir was not shown as wanted by any other force on suspicion of offences.

The following day, he was apprehended again by police, who received reports a man was exposing himself. Officers suspected a mental health episode and Albashir went to hospital.

However, two days later at around 9pm on March 17, 2024, Albashir was in the Headingley area of Leeds on a street popular.

He lay in wait outside The Original Oak pub and pounced on a 32-year-old woman walking home alone, stabbing her in the chest and neck with a broken bottle.

Albashir pleaded guilty in March to attempted murder on the first day of a planned trial.

Sentencing him to 25 years in prison on Tuesday along with an indefinite hospital order, Judge Robin Mairs told him his illness was ‘not the sole cause’ of his offending, adding there had been a ‘sexual element’ to the attack.

The Home Office declined to provide details about Albashir’s entry into Britain. A spokesman said: ‘This Government will not allow foreign criminals and illegal immigrants to exploit our laws, which is why we are reforming human rights laws allowing us to scale up deportations.’