Three men jailed over brutal Brighton beach rape attack

Two men were jailed for 21 years each and a third for 18 years and six months after a Brighton beach rape that prosecutors described as an "entirely predatory and callous attack" on a woman who had been separated from her friends on a girls’ night out.

Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, from Egypt, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran, were sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday, 15 July 2026. Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, also from Egypt, received 18 years and six months after being convicted as a secondary party for encouraging and filming the assault. A separate allegation that he shared intimate images was removed. Sky News said all three will serve a further six years on extended licence.

Sussex Police said the report came in on Saturday, 4 October 2025, after the woman, described as being in her 30s, was taken to Brighton beach by three men and attacked at around 5am. Jurors heard that the trio had found her "staggering in the street," alone and incapacitated before she was taken behind a beach hut. The woman was able to escape and raise the alarm.

CCTV from a nearby nightclub identified the suspects after they scanned their ID cards to enter the venue, using the club’s own security checks to help trace them. At trial, jurors were told the assault was not a spontaneous encounter but a calculated abuse of a vulnerable woman who had been left apart from her friends. Sky News reported that Alshafe was seen smiling, sticking out his tongue and slapping the woman during the attack.

Judge Christine Henson KC said each man had taken part in an "entirely predatory and callous attack" on a woman who had set out for what had been a fun night out. Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC described the defendants as "devoid of humanity." In her victim impact statement, the woman said: "They destroyed my life that night." She told the court she still sees and hears the man filming and laughing when she closes her eyes.

Richard McDonagh of Sussex Police said the woman’s courage in reporting the crime and supporting the investigation helped bring the attackers to justice. He added that women and girls should be able to feel safe in public and in private at any time of night or day, a standard that Brighton’s nightlife and public spaces still fail too many people to meet.