Two asylum seekers were caught making an OnlyFans sex tape in their taxpayer-funded hotel room, it has been reported.
Astonished staff at the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool allegedly walked in on a Syrian man romping a migrant woman during a room inspection.
It is understood he had a tripod set up at the end of the bed and there were sex toys littered around the room.
A former manager at the hotel told The Sun: ‘[…] It was pretty obvious what was happening. The couple were running an illegal porn business from the hotel.
‘The man was naked with just a towel around him when he answered the door. She was wearing sexy lingerie, lying on the bed.’
‘He told us he was filming it to put on OnlyFans,’ the former manager added.
The 18th-century Metropole Hotel has been used to house asylum seekers since 2021 and is managed by contractors Serco.
It is located just an eight-minute walk from the famous Tower Ballroom where the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing films an episode every year.
Users who make content on OnlyFans can charge others to view their videos and photographs.
According to the Home Office, cases of illegal working while migrants are being house in hotels can lead to their support being cut.
However, according to The Sun’s report, the man who was allegedly caught making the video was moved to another site and received no further punishment.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said they were ‘urgently investigating’ the incident which reportedly took place in summer last year.
They said: ‘These are dreadful allegations which we are urgently investigating.
‘While most people comply with the rules, our contractors must maintain order and immediately report any issues.
‘Cases of illegal working, including online, antisocial behaviour, or safeguarding breaches can lead to support being cut.’
Meanwhile, Serco said it encourages its staff to look for any ‘signs of work or wealth’ among the asylum seekers.
A spokesperson added: ‘Serco is contracted to provide safe and appropriate accommodation for asylum seekers and to report any signs of work or wealth to the Home Office.
‘We always report any signs identified, allowing the Home Office to take appropriate action.
‘The rules on benefits, healthcare and the right to leave asylum accommodation are set by government and are not part of Serco’s contract with the Home Office.’
It comes after a shock report in May this year revealed that asylum accommodation – including hotels – will cost the taxpayer £15billion over 10 years.
The overall bill is more than triple the Home Office’s original estimate, data from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed.
Contracts were originally forecast to cost £4.5billion over a decade from 2019 but are now expected to run to £15.3billion over same period, after the Channel crisis exploded.
It means that on average the taxpayer will spend £4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the contracts.
A separate breakdown from the NAO showed overall costs in 2024-25 were £1.67billion.
That amounted to £4,567,123 a day on average, or £3,172 a minute.
Asylum hotels ‘may be more profitable’ for companies holding the contracts than other types of housing, the government’s official auditors said.
The Home Office awarded the contracts to three suppliers – Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco – which operate two or three UK regions each.
They are responsible for finding a range of self-catering accommodation for asylum seekers who are dispersed across the country, and for sub-contracting hotels for tens of thousands of migrants coming across the Channel by small boat.
The report found Clearsprings is now set to be paid £7.3billion over the 10 years from 2019 to 2029, the NAO said, while Serco is expected to get £5.5billion and Mears will receive £2.5billion.
Its study said: ‘The total reported profit of suppliers was £383million between September 2019 and August 2024.
‘In the first five years of the contract, available data from suppliers show annual profit margins ranging from a loss of 2 per cent to a profit of 17 per cent.
‘This is equivalent to an overall 7 per cent profit margin across the whole service.’
The report went on: ‘People accommodated in hotels account for 76 per cent of the annual cost of the contracts (£1.3billion out of an estimated £1.7billion in 2024-25).
‘Data reported by suppliers suggests that hotels may be more profitable than other forms of accommodation.’
It said the Home Office ‘originally estimated that the total contract cost would be £4.5billion over 10 years’.
‘However, the current estimated total is £15.3billion over the same period.
‘The number of people seeking asylum who are accommodated by the Home Office increased from around 47,000 in December 2019 to around 110,000 in December 2024,’ it added.
