On the day of his confirmation, Enzo Almeni walked through the grand West Doors of Liverpool's world-famous Anglican Cathedral, beneath the monumental statue of the Risen Christ.
He crossed the marbled floor, past the stone tombs of long-forgotten clergymen and commemorative plaques to the great and good of the City, to take his place in a pew before the high altar.
It was March 27, 2017, and Almeni was welcomed into the Church with open arms, in a ceremony attended by beaming friends and well-wishers — among them the retired, devout Christian couple who would invite him to live with them just days later.
This week the cathedral was part of a key line of inquiry for counter-terrorism police investigating a bomb explosion in a taxi parked outside a hospital a mile away, at 10.59am on Remembrance Sunday.
On the day of his confirmation, Enzo Almeni walked through the grand West Doors of Liverpool's world-famous Anglican Cathedral, beneath the monumental statue of the Risen Christ
And, as we now know, the bomber was Enzo Almeni, a Christian convert who had changed his name by deed poll from Emad Al Swealmeen, and who had allegedly spent the months preparing explosives which, police confirmed yesterday, could have caused 'significant injury or death'.
The second terror attack in a month — following the killing of MP Sir David Amess — has seen the UK threat level raised to 'severe'.
It has also revealed to the wider public a flaw in the asylum process that some argue may have undermined national security for years: how churches and faith groups have, often innocently, aided some asylum seekers who falsely claim to be Christian converts in order to remain in the UK.
In the wake of the attempted Liverpool atrocity — in which Almeni died — a row has erupted over the so-called 'Pray to Stay' racket.
MPs from the Home Office Select Committee are demanding a Parliamentary inquiry, and a counter-extremism think-tank is calling for an investigation into the 'Liverpool Cathedral convert cluster'.
He crossed the marbled floor, past the stone tombs of long-forgotten clergymen and commemorative plaques to the great and good of the City, to take his place in a pew before the high altar
Home Secretary Priti Patel described the asylum system as 'a complete merry-go-round and it's been exploited by a whole professional legal services industry which has based itself on rights of appeal, going to the courts day-in day-out on legal aid at the expense of the taxpayers'.
The exact circumstances of 32-year-old Enzo Almeni's conversion are not yet known (and there is no evidence he used it to aid his asylum application).
But the Mail can today reveal the scale of Christian conversions that may have facilitated successful asylum claims sanctioned by the clergy — and how the Church of England's ruling body offered advice on the role of Christian conversions if asylum claims fail.
It is tempting to think of Almeni as an outlier who simply slipped through the intelligence net.
But Khairi Saadallah, who murdered three men in a park in Reading last year, was also an asylum seeker who converted to Christianity upon arrival in the UK from Libya.
In 2018, a 38-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who raped a teenage girl was spared deportation even though a judge believed his conversion to Christianity was a deliberate ploy to beat the system.
The judge ruled that the man's 850 Twitter posts quoting the Bible placed him at risk of persecution if he was sent back to Iran following his release after serving five years in prison.
In recent years, UK immigration courts have heard the cases of hundreds of asylum seekers who claim to have converted to Christianity in order to stay here.
Under the Human Rights Act, if the asylum seeker can prove they are unable to live in their country of origin without fear of persecution, they can be granted leave to remain in the UK for five years.
This week the cathedral was part of a key line of inquiry for counter-terrorism police investigating a bomb explosion in a taxi parked outside a hospital a mile away, at 10.59am on Remembrance Sunday
Those who convert from Islam to Christianity are committing the crime of 'apostasy' — 'deserting Islam' — in their home countries, which in some nations, including Iran, is punishable by death.
Supporting evidence provided to immigration tribunals by church leaders, who can vouch for the credibility of the asylum seeker's faith, can be the deciding factor in whether they are permitted to stay or are deported.
According to a report in The Times this week, some people smugglers are now even promoting conversion as a tactic to desperate migrants.
Some Christian churches work closely with immigration solicitors, who, it has been claimed, cross-refer asylum seekers to one another.
Last year, two Glasgow-based Iranian Muslims known only as TF and MA, who had converted to Christianity, won a landmark fight against the Home Office with the support of the Tron Church, a church of Presbyterian desendance in the city which is led by retired solicitor and missionary John Taylor.
This is despite the fact that, in an early hearing, TF was found to have fabricated a letter from an Iranian hospital, and entered the UK on a student visa in 2013 having 'been on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia . . . Undermining his claim that Islam did not play a role in his life'.
The second man first claimed he was a homosexual (a crime in Iran), then claimed to be Christian, which the judge said was being kept 'in reserve' as a 'Plan B' to be deployed if the homosexuality claim failed.
The judge called the man's claim a 'multi-layered contrivance', adding: 'He is not a genuine asylum seeker and should be removed from the UK on that basis.'
Yet four representatives from the Tron Church, including Mr Taylor who has assisted the claims of dozens of Middle Eastern asylum seekers since 2010, backed their bids, and the joint case was ultimately successful when the Home Office backed down in October before an appeal re-hearing.
The case of TF and MA has already been cited in subsequent conversion tribunals and could pave the way for hundreds more claims. The Tron Church declined to comment on the case yesterday.
Some asylum seekers are open about the reasons for conversion. A man known only as Abdul, from the Middle East, recounted his experience to academic William Wheeler in a book published this year. [Conversion] was '60 per cent for my case', he admitted after his previous appeals for asylum failed.
'He succinctly described what being a refused asylum seeker means: your case is closed,' wrote Mr Wheeler. 'In order to put in a fresh claim, you need 'a new story'. Ultimately his claim was unsuccessful.
Of course, many asylum seekers are truly desperate people who have reached the UK after fleeing despotic, war-torn and dangerous regimes, and as charity is a core tenet of Christianity, it is only natural that church leaders would help those in need.
But is it possible that occasionally they go beyond that moral imperative to assist in more dubious claims?
The Church of England hit back said after the Poppy Day attack: 'It is not the role of clergy to establish the legitimacy of asylum claims and to assess security implications. 'We are not aware of any evidence to suggest a widespread correlation between conversion to Christianity, or any other faith, and abuse of the asylum system'. Above: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
In 2017, the Church of England (C of E) opted to encourage asylum seekers as part of its Presence and Engagement Programme, designed to assist clergy in parishes where more than one in ten of the population follow a non-Christian faith.
That year, the General Synod, the Church's governing body, advised clergy that where someone has already had an asylum application turned down, a conversion to Christianity would boost the chances of a successful new claim — seemingly issuing instructions to facilitate conversions when an original appeal has failed.
'Note that if the person has converted to Christianity after a previous refusal, that may be the basis of a fresh claim,' noted the text entitled 'Supporting Asylum Seekers — Guidance for Church of England Clergy'.
It makes clear that 'convincing evidence will be
