Racist group wrongly claims that hotel it targeted housed sex offender

Martin Shipton

A notorious racist group has falsely claimed that a former resident of a hotel that served as a temporary home for refugees who helped British forces in Afghanistan committed a sex offence.

Convicted fraudster Dan Morgan, who runs the Swansea-based Voice of Wales group with veteran fellow racist Stan Robinson, told the lie in an inflammatory video posted on Facebook.

Last year the Holiday Inn Express Hotel at Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan was used for several months to house families whose members had to flee Afghanistan after the hard-line Taliban succeeded in ousting the previous pro-Western government. Had they remained in their home country, they would almost certainly have been murdered as collaborators with the British.

Nevertheless, far right groups like the Voice of Wales regularly staged noisy protests outside the hotel, saying the Afghani families should not be there.

Last month, former Tory Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies published a statement on his website saying the UK Government had serious questions to answer after it confirmed that a sex crime was committed by an Afghan national resettled in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Authorities had repeatedly refused to answer Mr Davies’ requests regarding the matter, which he first raised in August 2025.

Mr Davies met with Ministry of Defence officials regarding their decision to use the Holiday Inn Express in Rhoose as temporary accommodation under the Afghan Resettlement Programme.

Following the meeting, he asked if any individuals housed in the Vale of Glamorgan under any Afghan resettlement scheme had been either charged or convicted of any sex crimes.

Despite following it up several times, the department repeatedly failed to answer Mr Davies’ request. He then referred the matter to the Information Commissioner.

In January, the Home Office refused to provide the information, claiming it would be too costly to do so.

The Ministry of Defence has now confirmed it holds information relating to 10 cases where an individual relocated to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme or the Afghan Response Route (ARR) has subsequently committed a criminal offence.

This includes a sexual offence committed by an individual based in the Vale of Glamorgan.

‘Disgraceful’

Mr Davies said: “It’s disgraceful that the Government failed to provide this information for so long.

“After authorities chose to use the Holiday Inn Express in Rhoose for temporary accommodation, I asked them to confirm if any individuals relocated under various Afghan resettlement schemes were convicted of sex offences.

“But they failed to answer the request repeatedly.

“Now it has confirmed an Afghan resettled in the Vale of Glamorgan was convicted of a sex crime, the Government has serious questions to answer.

“There are public safety implications that must be addressed.”

Mr Davies did not specifically state that the individual who had committed the offence had been housed at the hotel, but neither did he rule that out in his statement.

In fact, the offence – one of indecent exposure – was committed by someone who had not been accommodated at the hotel.

Ahmad Afzali, of Cowbridge Road in St Athan, pleased guilty to a charge of indecent exposure at Cardiff Magistrates Court on April 4 2025.

Afzali, 21, was charged with intentionally exposing his genitals while out in Gileston on Saturday, February 22 2025, intending that someone would see them and be caused alarm or distress.

Morgan, of Voice of Wales, says on the video: “It’s come out that one of the Afghans resettled in the hotel has gone on to commit sexual offences” – a statement which is untrue.

He goes on to claim there is a cover-up by the authorities to stop the public finding out details about the sex crime and suggests the public is in danger. This again is untrue.

Morgan also links the sex crime story to the Welsh Government’s Nation of Sanctuary policy, which was started by the previous Labour administration and is continuing under Plaid Cymru. Published figures have shown that 91% of the Nation of Sanctuary’s budget was spent on resettling refugees from Ukraine into communities in Wales.

‘Completely misleading’

Countering Morgan’s false claim, a spokesperson for the Vale of Glamorgan council said: “The Holiday Inn Express has absolutely no link to this historic case, previously reported by the Barry and District News, so referencing it in this way is completely misleading.

“The hotel was briefly used to house Entitled Persons from Afghanistan, people who had the right to live and work in the UK, as part of a Ministry of Defence (MOD) operation that was supported by the council.

“These people, none of which are connected to this matter, have since moved to more permanent accommodation across the UK.”

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