Tragic story of asylum seeker who died in London housing

Less than six months later, Mohammed was dead following a suspected cardiac arrest. He was just 26 years old.  

The case is just one of many uncovered in a new project by Liberty Investigates.

In the lead up to Mohammed’s death on November 9, 2020, witnesses at the hotel said he had requested and been refused medical help for worsening back pain.

At the inquest, a coroner found no link between Mohammed’s back pain and his cardiac arrest.

The hotel where Mohammed was staying in is one of the four asylum seeker contingency hotels located in the borough of Barnet. It is owned by housing provider Clearsprings Ready Homes.

Published in June, a Barnet Council report into these hotels detailed the poor conditions asylum seekers often had to endure, including the fact that “a lot of rooms do not have opening windows, which can lead to overheating and poor ventilation”.

Prior to his death, Mohammed was deemed an "adult at risk" by the Home Office after it found that he was likely a victim of modern slavery.

One friend described Mohammed as “a man with a good heart”.

Mohammed’s story is just one of more than 100 asylum seekers who have died in asylum seeker housing in Britain since 2016.

The government does not publish data on deaths in its accommodation, so stories like Mohammed’s have been compiled by a team of journalists at Liberty Investigates.

The Asylum Seeker Memorial Project has recorded 140 such deaths between April 2016 and August 2022.

Eleanor Rose, the investigations editor at Liberty Investigates, said: “Those fleeing persecution or conflict in their homelands are often left struggling in poor accommodation, far from the people who care about them. Their deaths often go unannounced or forgotten.

“We hope this memorial – pieced together by our tenacious investigative journalists – goes some way to telling the stories of those the home secretary may otherwise forget.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The welfare of asylum seekers is, and always will be, of the utmost importance to us.

“We work closely with the NHS, local authorities, non-governmental organisations and contractors to ensure that asylum seekers can access the health care and support they need.”

Clearsprings Ready Homes declined a request for comment.

A search of The Asylum Seeker Memorial database showed at least an additional 14 deaths in Home Office accommodation in London, most of which were recorded without the name of the deceased. 

These include Ahmed Albukhari Afif, known to friends as Bukhary, who died in a hotel near Heathrow in July 2021. 

A post-mortem found that he suffered sudden death in epilepsy. Afif, aged 27, had arrived in the UK from Sudan three months earlier. 

The Asylum Seeker Memorial Project website states: "An incident report sent by Clearsprings safeguarding staff to the Home Office states he had 'no previous health concerns', suggesting they were not aware of or hadn't recorded his conditions."

Ahmed Albukhari Afif died aged 27 in a Home Office hotel near Heathrow (Image: Ahmed Albukhari Afif)

In Ilford, Tina Nguyen, the 11-month-old baby of a Vietnamese asylum seeker staying in Home Office accommodation died in the care of unregistered babysitter Anh Pham.

A serious case review, carried out by Redbridge Local Safeguarding Children Board, found that the Home Office lost sight of Tina for 10 of the 11 months of her life.

A Home Office spokesperson at the time said: "We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those within the asylum system."

READ MORE: How opportunities were missed to save Ilford baby who died at hands of unqualified Barking babysitter

An unamed case recorded by the Asylum Seeker Memorial Project relates to a 68-year-old man from Afghanistan who was known to be diabetic.

Liberty Investigates found that despite vomiting in front of Home Office staff after arriving in the UK in the back of a lorry, paramedics were not called to assist him. He died the next day in Home Office accomodation. 

Visit the Asylum Seeker Memorial Project at www.asylumseekermemorial.co.uk