Kurdish asylum seeker jailed after raping teenager in park
Mehmet Ogur was living at the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth
Last updated 12th Jan 2026
A Kurdish asylum seeker has been jailed for seven years after raping an 18-year-old woman in a park days after meeting her on Snapchat.
Stafford Crown Court heard how 27-year-old Mehmet Ogur, who was living at the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, met the survivor in a park on the 18th January last year and raped her.
He later sent her messages amounting to a "full and complete" admission.
One of the messages, the court heard, read "I am really sorry, I didn't actually want to do this but I couldn't stop myself" while another stated "I am sorry for trying to force you to have sex".
Ogur was found guilty of rape and attempted rape at a trial last summer, after denying any wrongdoing and claiming Google Translate had altered the meaning of the messages.
A jury of seven women and five men convicted Ogur after hearing how the victim screamed for him to stop as she tried to struggle free.
Passing sentence, Judge John Edwards told Ogur, who was assisted in the dock by a Turkish interpreter, that the rape had caused "immense harm" to the victim.
The judge also told Ogur, who is understood to have arrived in Britain on a small boat weeks before the attack: "Your continued stay in the United Kingdom will be for others to determine, not for me."
Victim impact statement
In a victim impact statement which she read to the court prior to sentencing, the victim said: "I'm a survivor of rape by Mehmet Ogur.
"No words can explain what he put me through. He completely changed me as a person.
"The truth is I don't think I'll ever get through it. He completely destroyed me."
Saying she wanted to fight for herself and "every single other girl that's too scared to speak up" and get justice, the victim, who cannot be named, added: "It's been nearly a year since you raped me but it still feels like yesterday.
"Why me, why did you choose me to completely destroy when all I did was show kindness and empathy towards you?"
“The survivor in this case has shown tremendous bravery..."
Detective Constable Samuel Infanti from Staffordshire Police said: “The survivor in this case has shown tremendous bravery in coming forward and telling us about what happened. It is because of her bravery that Ogur will now be punished for his crimes.
“We’re determined to act robustly against those responsible for sexual offences in Staffordshire and to support survivors as much as possible.”