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Ann Widdecombe explains Reform's asylum plan at poignant meeting with mother of murdered Walsall hotel worker Rhiannon Whyte

When it comes to the vexed question of asylum hotel accommodations, there are few places more poignant than this.

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By Mark Andrews
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Ann Widdecombe is about to meet Siobhan Whyte, the mother of murdered hotel worker Rhiannon Whyte, at the scene where her 27-year-old daughter was bludgeoned to death by asylum seeker Deng Chol Majek, a Sudanese asylum seeker living in the hotel across the road. 

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She has a stern message as she sits in a car outside Bescot railway station.

"Every single new asylum seeker should be housed in a secure reception centre, not in hotels, not free to wander about in local communities, free to disappear at a point where they think the state is going to say no." 

Rhiannon's murder, on the station bridge, shocked the nation, and hardened the mood against the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers. Both Sir Keir Starmer, and Rishi Sunak, before him also promised to end the use of hotels for new arrivals awaiting asylum claims. But while new figures suggest a national fall, the number in the West Midlands remains stubbornly high. 

Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.
Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.

As well as ending all hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, Miss Widdecombe says Reform will end the scandal of adults being given leave to remain by masquerading as children.

Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.
Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.
Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.
Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.
Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.
Reform's Ann Widdecombe visits Bescot Station, Walsall, where Rhiannon Whyte was murdered. She is pictured with Reform's Elaine Williams and mother of Rhiannon, Siobhan Whyte.

"There is nothing new about that, it isn't a Keir Starmer policy," she says. "I can remember when I was a member of parliament for a Kentish seat, the chairman of Kent County Council went down to Dover to see the immigration operations, and came back clutching his head, saying he had seen people quite visibly of pension age claiming to be children."