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  6.  » Police ‘toned down’ statement of mother whose hotel worker daughter was murdered by an asylum seeker in case it led to race riots

Glen Owen – Daily Mail June 20, 2026

Asylum seeker Deng Chol Majek, 27, originally from Sudan. Why wasn’t he checked for a criminal record? Click to enlarge

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.’

It follows revelations in last week’s Mail on Sunday about how the Government’s secretive Research, Information and Communications Unit tries to manage the ‘challenges’ of multiculturalism by manipulating public mood following murders or terrorist incidents with a racial element.

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.’

It was only after Majek was sentenced that Ms Whyte mentioned the fact he had arrived in the UK on a small boat three months before the attack – and criticised Sir Keir Starmer. She said: ‘The Prime Minister’s got blood on his hands.’

Ms Whyte said: ‘Rhiannon’s not the first case and sadly she won’t be the last. But we were handed a life sentence the day I had to watch my daughter die. And where is Starmer? He’s got blood on his hands.’

Ms Whyte is campaigning for ‘Rhiannon’s Law’, which would ensue that migrants medically checked, criminally checked and tagged – and sent back if they have criminal records.

The Southport riots came amid false claims circulating on social media that Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker,

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

When the distressed family told the police that they were turning off Rhiannon’s life support in the aftermath of the attack, the police moved quickly to remove the migrants from the Park Inn Hotel.

Ms Whyte said: ‘Those migrants were out within two hours – I think that’s because they feared violence,’ she said. ‘It was the last thing on my mind – I was too busy focusing on having to turn Rhiannon’s life support machine off’.

Ms Whyte added: ‘I want a Rhiannon’s Law – if they aren’t going to stop these migrants coming, at least they should be medically checked, criminally checked and tagged – and if they do have criminal records we should send them back’.

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