Iranian asylum seeker lay dead for up to four months while wearing ankle tag
Case of Mehrab Omrani sparks calls from cross-party MPs for government to review plan to expand use of ‘dispersal accommodation’ run by Clearsprings
–
An Iranian asylum seeker found dead in Home Office accommodation last year had lain there for up to four months despite wearing an electronic tag that should have alerted authorities, documents uncovered by Hyphen show.
It has sparked concerns from cross-party MPs about the lack of oversight of so-called “dispersal accommodation”, which the government has said it intends to use more widely to house those awaiting immigration decisions.
Mehrab Omrani, 45, was eventually found at accommodation run by Clearsprings Ready Homes in Colchester, Essex, on 27 March 2024 after a manager noticed a bad smell during an inspection.
Michelle Brown, the area coroner for Essex, said at a hearing in January this year that it was impossible to say how Omrani had died because his body was so severely decomposed.
Omrani had moved into the room after leaving a Home Office hotel near Heathrow at the start of December 2023. Graphic witness statements produced by the housing manager, a paramedic and a police officer regarding the state of his body also reveal he had not unpacked the towels and sheets he was given upon arrival, and had last been seen alive by the manager the day he moved in.
Dr Alex Starkie, a forensic anthropologist and former forensic specialist for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Hyphen after reviewing witness statements about the discovery of Omrani’s body that it was possible he had died not long after entering the accommodation.
Independent MP Ayoub Khan told Hyphen Omrani’s death was an “appalling failure of duty by both government agencies and the private sector”, adding that he would write to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper.
Omrani had an electronic tag attached to his left leg when he was found, with its docking station still in a bag nearby, statements from police and a paramedic reveal. The Home Office has declined to comment on Omrani’s case, saying it is carrying out its own investigation — but such tags usually require charging daily, and authorities are able to tell remotely if they have run out of battery power.
In addition, asylum claimants are supposed to maintain contact — usually fortnightly — with the department as part of their bail conditions, Home Office guidance states.
People awaiting an asylum decision are not always issued with electronic tags, but those on immigration bail are “if justified by the circumstances of the case”, government guidance states.
An 18-month Home Office pilot, which finished in December 2023, found that GPS tagging people on immigration bail had not made them less likely to go awol. Hyphen revealed last week that the pilot had cost nearly £2m.
“The tags are pointless,” said Maria Wilby, operational lead at Refugee, Asylum Seeker & Migrant Action, a voluntary organisation in Colchester.
She added it seemed as if “nobody cares about our clients. Nobody’s really very bothered if they die. They’re second-class citizens.”
The government has vowed to stop using hotels to house asylum seekers and in September, Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said the Home Office intended to ramp up the use of dispersal accommodation to help achieve this.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on immigration detention, said it was “clear that this young man was failed at multiple points by the institutions that were supposed to be supporting and monitoring him”.
“If the Home Office want to use dispersal accommodation more frequently, then they urgently need to look at the quality of accommodation and the providers to ensure this never happens again,” she said.
Failures by Clearsprings?
Government guidance on living in dispersal accommodation states that the service the accommodation provider will deliver includes “visiting you at least once per month”.
This also includes “promoting wellbeing, including making referrals to relevant agencies”.
In a statement obtained by Hyphen, Micheal Connolly, housing manager for Clearsprings, said he met Omrani the day he moved in, 4 December 2023, but that was “the last time” he saw him.
In a later statement he said only that he could not recall the last time he had seen Omrani, but that he had not been contactable during an inspection on 16 February 2024.
Clearsprings, one of three Home Office contractors providing asylum accommodation, made more than £90m in profit in the year ending January 2024, according to Companies House filings. It declined to comment.
“One of the residents in his house did see [Omrani] and was extremely upset,” Wilby said.
“And a number of our clients were upset. They were just like: is that what’s going to happen to me? Just die alone and nobody cares?”
Colchester city council said Omrani was given a Muslim public health funeral and burial in May 2024, with no guests allowed.
Have you got a story for Hyphen? Email info@hyphenonline.com.
Topics
Get the Hyphen weekly
Subscribe to Hyphen’s weekly round-up for insightful reportage, commentary and the latest arts and lifestyle coverage, from across the UK and Europe
This form may not be visible due to adblockers, or JavaScript not being enabled.