AN Asylum seeker died just hours later on a train after he was released from an immigration removal centre being deemed as too sick.
Detainee Khalid Shahzad was found dead at Wilmslow train station in Cheshire as he travelled back to the city from Colnbrook IRC near London Heathrow airport.
The 52-year-old who was a Pakistani national, lived in Cheetham Hill, and according to preliminary reports from the inquest he died from heart disease.
The Home Office, which uses the removal centre to hold individuals at risk of deportation, has launched an investigation into his death.
According to Shahzad’s family, he was inside hospital for heart surgery days before he was discharged from the centre.
His niece’s husband, Mehboob Sultan, 40, said he thought the care Shahzad received from Colnbrook IRC was not good enough.
“He went into the hospital and four days after he's discharged they release him and make him sit on a train on his own back home,” explained Sultan.
A Home Office spokesman said they do provide specialist support to individuals being released from detention if recommended by ‘healthcare professionals’.
He added: “An investigation into this case is under way and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
It is understood that Shahzad had been seeking asylum after over-staying a work visa. He was required to sign in at the Immigration Service at Dallas Court in Salford every two weeks.
His family said that, in January, he was detained at Dallas Court and taken to the centre at Colnbrook IRC, although they do not know why he was arrested at that point.
Colnbrook, which is built to category B prison standard and holds up to 383 detainees, is run for the Home Office by Serco.
A spokesman for Serco said: “Mr Shahzad was discharged on Saturday 30 March from Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre. Tragically he was found dead later that day on a train to Manchester and our thoughts are with his family. An investigation is being carried out and there will be an inquest into his death.”
The inquest into Shahzad’s death has been referred to the coroner in West London.
