Sudanese asylum seeker, 24, is found dead at Heathrow hotel
Sudanese asylum seeker, 24, is found dead at Heathrow hotel that is home to 400 would-be refugees four months after he crossed Channel from Calais
- The man was found dead just before 1am on Sunday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel
- The hotel, outside airport, is being used to accommodate 400 asylum seekers
- Officers investigating the man’s death say it is not being treated as suspicious
An asylum seeker has been found dead at a hotel near Heathrow airport, police have today confirmed.
The man, believed to be 24 and from Sudan, was found dead just before 1am on Sunday at the Crowne Plaza hotel, West Drayton.
The hotel, which is to the north of the airport, is used by the Home Office to accommodate asylum seekers. Around 400 people are currently housed there.
Police say the man’s death is not being treated as suspicious.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We are truly saddened to hear of the death of an individual in asylum accommodation. The health and wellbeing of asylum seekers will always be our priority.
An asylum seeker has been found dead at a hotel near Heathrow airport, police have today confirmed. Pictured: The Crowne Plaza Heathrow near West Drayton
The man, believed to be 24 and from Sudan, was found dead just before 1am on Sunday at the Crowne Plaza hotel, near Terminal 4. Pictured: A library image of The Crowne Plaza near Heathrow Airport
‘We are working closely with a range of organisations to ensure immediate support and assistance is provided to people living in the accommodation who have been affected by this tragic death and await further information from the Metropolitan police as to the findings of their ongoing investigation.’
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said: ‘Shortly before 1am on Sunday, 18 July police were notified by the London ambulance service about reports of a person deceased at an address on Stockley Road, West Drayton.
‘Officers and paramedics attended and a man in his 20s was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘The man’s death is not being treated as suspicious and steps are being taken to inform his next of kin.’
According to the Guardian, the man had crossed the Channel from Calais, where he had lived under a bridge for several months.
He had arrived in the UK four months ago and claimed asylum. He was being accommodated in the hotel while the Home Office reviewed his request, it is understood.
The Home Office has used the £100-a-night Crowne Plaza to accommodate asylum seekers for at least a year.
Taxpayers are spending a fortune to put up more than 400 immigrants at the four-star Crowne Plaza hotel just two miles from the UK’s biggest airport
An 8ft fence was erected around the perimeter of the Crowne Plaza last summer.
Each room has a double bed, an en-suite bathroom and flatscreen TV. Staff leave three basic meals outside rooms each day while dining areas and leisure facilities are closed. Housekeepers clean the rooms once a week.
In May, a High Court judge ordered the Home Office to move a human trafficking victim out of the ‘prison-like’ hotel.
A judge said the man, who had escaped from torture in Kuwait, was not a suitable environment for a trafficking victim.
The Home Office said at the time that it had tried to rehouse the man to a new hotel in Leicester but he was unable to make the journey due to a chronic back injury.
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year how at least 20 hotels across Britain are being used to house migrants who had crossed the Channel as part of a £4 billion, ten-year contract between the Home Office and outsourcing firms.
In December, the Guardian revealed how twenty-nine asylum seekers had died in Home Office accommodation over the previous 12 months.
The figure is five times as many as those who lost their lives crossing the Channel over the same period.
Yesterday, up to 100 migrants were brought ashore by Border Force officers after crossing the English Channel.
Emergency teams intercepted around seven boats before the group of migrants were brought into the port of Dover in Kent.
The Home Office had, as of last night, not confirmed exactly how many made the 21-mile crossing, but it is believed from pictures to be up to 100.
More than 7,400 migrants have made the dangerous Channel dash to reach the UK by small boat so far this year, according to official figures.
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