Pregnant woman, who had also been kidnapped, was being cared for in recovery centre in London when arrest took place

A woman who reported being kidnapped and raped was arrested on immigration charges while being cared for at a centre for sexual assault victims.

The woman, who was five months’ pregnant at the time of her arrest, attended an east London police station in March to report details of her alleged ordeal, which she said occurred in Germany between September 2016 and March 2017.

Officers took her to one of three Havens sexual assault centres in the capital, part of a network commissioned and jointly funded by NHS England and the Metropolitan police. But she was subsequently arrested at the centre and taken to a police station where she was questioned over her immigration status.

A spokeswoman for King’s College hospital NHS foundation trust, which manages the Havens, said it had objected to the police’s actions. “Providing patients with appropriate care in a safe environment is our top priority,” she said. “Following the arrest of a patient at the Haven, we formally raised concerns with the Metropolitan police about the appropriateness of this setting for such action. We also spoke to the police commissioner more generally about our role in caring for a complex mix of patients.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The medical examination room at the Haven, Camberwell, London. The Haven examines and counsels victims of sexual assault. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Politics.co.uk, which first reported the story, revealed earlier this year that tip-offs from the police to the Home Office regarding the immigration status of victims of – or witnesses to – crime shot up from 634 in 2014 to 3,372 the following year. It was in 2013 that Theresa May trumpeted plans to create a “hostile environment” for illegal migrants to Britain, requiring the NHS, banks and private landlords to carry out immigration checks before people could access services.

Fizza Qureshi, the director of the Migrants’ Rights Network, said: “It is shocking and incredibly upsetting to hear of a rape victim treated as a criminal rather than getting the care and support she needs. There must be avenues of safe reporting for all victims regardless of their immigration status.”

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A Met police spokeswoman said that the woman, who is in her 20s, told officers at the time of reporting the kidnapping and rape allegations that she had entered the country illegally.

She added: “Officers took the victim to a Haven sexual assault and rape centre to ensure she was provided with the relevant care and support. She was subsequently arrested at the premises on suspicion of illegal entry into the UK and she was taken into custody at an east London police station. Whilst there immigration officials attended and interviewed her.”

She said the woman was issued with a letter of temporary admission, which usually requires the subject to report regularly to an immigration officer, and that detectives from the Met’s child abuse and sexual offences unit referred the allegations of rape and kidnap to the German authorities.