Death fall asylum trio 'faced order to leave UK'

Published on Sunday 7 March 2010 21:59

THREE asylum seekers who fell to their deaths from the 15th floor of a Glasgow tower block were facing deportation, neighbours claimed last night.

&#149 The Red Road flats where the three fell to their deaths

The bodies of two men and a woman were discovered at the foot of the Red Road flats yesterday morning.

Police said their deaths were not being treated as suspicious.

The three people, who have not been named, fell from a balcony halfway up the block at 63 Petershill Drive in Springburn, to the north-east of the city.

Resident Elaine Sandford, 40, said she believed the deceased were Kosovans who faced deportation. She said: "I think they had a letter that said they were coming back for them."

It is understood a member of the concierge staff at the 30-storey high-rise called the police after discovering the bodies on a grassed area next to a car park.

Elizabeth Neilson, 42, who lives in a block looking on to the area where the bodies were discovered, said: "I opened my blinds and saw them lying there at about 8:30am. I saw two concierge standing there and three bodies lying on the ground.

"It is horrible. I was traumatised. I phoned the concierge and he said that three people had thrown themselves off the veranda."

Another 51-year-old neighbour said the three deceased had lived in the property for two months, but she did not know them.

Mark Johnson, a supermarket worker, told The Scotsman of his horror at finding forensics officers taping off the scene when he left the tower block yesterday morning shortly before 9am.

He said: "There were three bodies covered with a white sheet, and wardrobe doors there. It looked like they landed on the bits of wardrobe. It was just a bad sight, a really, really bad sight. It's not something you want to see."

The 24-year-old, originally from South Africa, added: "At first I thought it was a movie being shot. The police had white gowns and were marking places with numbers like you see on television. But the concierge told me, 'No, we're not making a movie'."

Last night, prayers were said for the families of the three victims at the Tron St Mary's, which has become a focus for many asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow.

Anne McLaughlin, SNP MSP for Glasgow, said: "The way we expect asylum seekers to live is horrifying. I have known a woman who had an eight-year-old daughter. (She] looked me in the eye and said, 'If they put me on an aeroplane to send me back I'll kill myself. Her husband had been made to 'disappear' in her homeland and she saw her brother murdered in front of her.

"In other cases, I've spoken to women who were made to become child soldiers. Going back is just not even a remote possibility for them, and we should not be putting them through this fear."

Paul Martin, Labour MSP for Glasgow Springburn, said: "This is a tragedy for the families of the victims. My thoughts are with them.

"The entire community will expect the police to use every resource they can to investigate this.

"It is all the more tragic as the local community has worked so hard for years to welcome asylum seekers and integrate them."

A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said: "Inquiries are ongoing to establish the identities of the three people involved and post-mortem examinations will take place in due course to establish the exact cause of death. However, at this time there does not appear to be any suspicious circumstances."

A spokesman for Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) said: "We are saddened to hear of the tragic incident at Petershill Drive. The police and emergency services are continuing their inquiries, and we will help them in any way we can."

Rosie Kane, former Scottish Socialist MSP, who has campaigned to end the detention of children at Dungavel asylum detention centre, said: "On numerous occasions asylum seekers I was speaking to threatened to do just this. It was only just a matter of time.

"When people are told they will be deported they live in constant fear of being removed and their mental health dips."

The Scottish Refugee Council declined to comment.

The high-rise is one of eight tower blocks in the area which were built in the late 1960s to house 4,700 people and vary in size between 25 and 31 storeys.

Long a symbol of Glasgow's deprivation, the structures are being demolished as part of a decade-long regeneration. No date had been set for demolition of the block at number 63, but it was due to be torn down by 2013 at the latest.

The block, which contains around 120 flats, is owned by GHA, but the housing association has only about 30 tenants there. It is believed that "the bulk" of properties remain occupied, with the majority home to asylum seekers through the YMCA.

The charity has a contract with the Home Office to provide accommodation and help to those seeking asylum, known as "Section 98" support. In recent years, some of the Red Road flats have housed asylum seekers from Kosovo, Iraq, Iran, the former Soviet Union and nations from Africa and Asia.

Robina Qureshi, director, of Positive Action in Housing, a Scottish charity which supports and campaigns for refugees and asylum seekers in the local communities, said: "We are concerned about who these people are and whether they were claiming asylum, whether they had recently been given a negative decision by the UKBA, and whether they were our service users or volunteers."