Revealed: How Lord Salisbury hid rape by his British consul in Benin

Shocking papers in Foreign Office archives strengthen case for giving looted bronzes back to Nigeria

Britain has long faced calls to return the Benin bronzes, looted by its soldiers in 1897 from the kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria, a former British colony. Now that pressure is set to intensify following the discovery of damning evidence that the then prime minister covered up a rape and other atrocities committed by one of his own officials in the region.

Previously unpublished Foreign Office documents reveal that Lord Salisbury failed to take any action against Consul George Annesley after reading internal reports of his abuse and violence - from having a local woman, called Ekang, brought to his quarters and assaulted by his soldiers while he held her down to ordering raids in which women and children were shot.