Reform’s Sarah Pochin called a ‘disgrace’ after framing Russell Brand’s conviction around immigration

Reform MP Sarah Pochin has been called a “disgrace” after complaining that disgraced media personality Russell Brand had been handed a longer sentence than some “asylum seekers” who have committed equivalent crimes.

Brand was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for rape and sexual assault on Monday.

Appearing on GB News, Pochin tried to make Brand’s sentencing about migration and asylum seekers.

The GB News presenter Dawn Neesom said: “Lots of our viewers are saying well, Russell Brand, white Christian man, been sent down for ten and a half years, meanwhile we have perpetrators of the grooming gangs who some would say their crimes are far more heinous because they involved underaged children, they got lesser sentences.”

Pochin responded stating: “It’s an absolute disgrace. There’s many many examples of illegal asylum seekers who have got much lower sentences. Three years for rape in some cases.”

The Reform MP then added that she was “not sure” if 10 years was a long enough sentence for rape, adding: “But when you hear people have got even less than that.”

Pochin then referred to the case of Shabir Ahmed.

She said: “And the man that I just mentioned, the vile individual that is Shabir Ahmed, he got… I think he got 14 years, he served – he was raping young girls as young as 12 years old. How is he even out on the streets? It’s an absolute disgrace.” 

Ahmed was given a 22 year sentence in 2012 but was released in July after serving 14. He is also not an asylum seeker. He came to the UK from Pakistan in 1967 at the age of 14 as a citizen of a Commonwealth nation. 

Social media users have called Pochin “a disgrace” for making Brand’s sentencing about migration.

One said: “The disgrace is this woman. She should resign as an MP.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward