Three Libyian soldiers jailed for sexually assaulting teenagers in the UK are now seeking asylum

Three Libyan soldiers convicted of sexually assaulting terrified women in Cambridge are seeking asylum in the UK, it has been reported.

Khaled El Azibi, Naji El Maarfi and Mohammed Abdalsalam carried out the attacks while stationed at Bassingbourn Barracks last October.

They went on a drunken rampage in the university city after stealing bikes and cycling the 10 miles from Bassingbourn.

Fuelled by alcohol, they roamed the streets looking for victims and attacked three women in the space of an hour on October 26 last year.

They groped the terrified teenagers, attempted to put their hands up their skirts and exposed themselves.

El Azibi was jailed for 12 months and the other two were both locked up for 10 months

They have now been released from prison and transferred to secure immigration units, Cambridgeshire Police told the BBC.

A lawyer for one of their three victims said the woman was "dismayed".

"It's difficult enough to recover from a situation where you're set upon by a stranger and sexually assaulted," solicitor Richard Scorer told the BBC.

"But if you have to do that in the knowledge that that person has now come to this country and is trying to build a life here, I think that is very, very, very difficult to deal with, and completely wrong and unacceptable.

"I think it's a breach of their human rights and really we can't allow this to happen."

The grounds for El Azibi, El Maarfi and Abdalsalam claiming asylum have not been revealed.

But immigration experts have told the BBC they could claim they were being persecuted in their home country, or there is now a "fear of persecution" for bringing Libya into disrepute as a result of their criminal convictions in the UK.

The cadets were among 300 troops being trained to support the newly-formed Libyan government, who have since been sent back.

Cambridges

Two other cadets were jailed for a brutal rape in Cambridge last year in a separate incident.

Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, were both jailed for 12 years after acting like "hunting dogs" as they raped a man.

The attacks were part of other concerning conduct by Libyan cadets at the base following a "collapse of discipline".

The incidents prompted the Ministry of Defence to send the soldiers back to their home country early, ending an agreement to put 2,000 soldiers through basic infantry and junior command training in an attempt to help rebuild the troubled nation.

Prime Minister David Cameron previously insisted that no Libyan soldiers involved in the programme should be granted asylum after a "very small handful" made applications to stay in the UK.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that, of the 328 total originally signed up to the scheme, around 100 left during the course of their training by agreement with the Libyan authorities.

The remainder had now all been returned "properly" to Libya, he added, apart from the five convicted of sex offences and those others who had claimed asylum.