PH The Libyan soldiers were convicted of attacking three victims

FREE now SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Convicted sex attackers Khaled El Azibi, Naji El Maarfi and Mohammed Abdalsalam are three Libyan soldiers who carried out the drunken assaults while stationed at Bassingbourn Barracks last October. After an unbelievably short time in prison they have now been released and transferred to secure immigration units, Cambridgeshire Police said.

They are now believed to be launching an tax-payer funded asylum bid to remain in the UK claiming they ‘risk persecution’ if sent home because their crimes have ‘brought Libya into disrepute’. The implication is that while they are seemingly too depraved to return to their own country they are somehow welcome on the streets of Britain. Even David Cameron has demanded the soldiers should not be allowed to stay here – but human rights legislation may yet see the Prime Minister over-ruled. And even if the bid is ultimately futile the legal process is likely to extend their tax-payer funded stay in the UK for years. A lawyer for one of their three victims said the feeling was one of “dismay”. Solicitor Richard Scorer said: "These men were invited here as guests, to this country, to be trained and to provide help for them in their home country.

ALAMY The soldiers were staying at Bassingbourn Barracks

"They abused that hospitality in the most appalling way imaginable, and the idea that they would then be granted asylum - having committed these crimes - is completely wrong and unacceptable. "It adds insult to injury for the women concerned. "It's difficult enough to recover from a situation where you're set upon by a stranger and sexually assaulted. "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."

HANDOUT Khaled El Azibi is one of those reportedly seeking asylum

HANDOUT Naji El Maarfi was another one of the attackers

HANDOUT Mohammed Abdalsalam was also jailed over the attacks

The cadets were among 300Libyan troops being trained in England to support the newly-formed Libyan government. They stole bicycles and rode into Cambridge city centre before accosting three teenage women during the early hours of October 26, 2014.

The attacks included trying to kiss a woman without consent and then sexually assaulting her. El Maarfi exposed himself to one of the women. They each served sentences of between 10 and 12 months before being released from prison. One of the victims has spoke of her anger at the asylum bid. The woman, who received a letter yeseterday detailing their applications, said: "Seeing my attackers' faces again has brought what happened flooding back. They subjected me to a horrible, intimidating sexual assault which I will never be able to forget.