An asylum seeker who stabbed six people before being shot dead by police had made more than 70 calls seeking help from the Home Office and its contractors, it has emerged.
Badreddin Abadlla Adam was shot after he attacked a police officer, hotel staff and fellow asylum seekers at the Park Inn hotel in Glasgow in June 2020 after a serious breakdown in his mental health.
A Sudanese refugee, Abadlla Adam was one of hundreds of asylum seekers moved into hotels by the Home Office at the start of the Covid pandemic, encountering cramped and poor conditions, while having no money and being supplied with poor quality meals.
A Home Office report into his case, leaked to BBC Scotland, has revealed he made 72 calls to the department, its contractor Mears – which was in charge of the accommodation – and Migrant Help.
The evaluation said his repeated calls about his health and his accommodation should have rung alarm bells but there was “no joined-up view” regarding how to assess the implications of his increasingly frequent calls.
While the rationale for using hotels during lockdown appeared sound, the review said too little had been done to appreciate the “significant impact” that approach had on asylum seekers’ mental health, given their likely previous trauma.
It found the number of calls “individually and cumulatively (when considering the content of the contact) are not indicative of any elevated risk. However, the number of times he was in contact with the Home Office, Mears and Migrant Help – 72 times – about his accommodation and his health should have acted as a warning.
“He also complained to staff in the hotel and was in touch with the Home Office about a voluntary assisted return. Each of those inquiries was dealt with appropriately and in keeping with the relevant operating procedures. There was no joined-up view that allowed a comprehensive view of escalation in the nature and frequency of BA’s contact.”
Sabir Zazai, the chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, said the Home Office was still housing asylum seekers in hotels across the UK, at a cost of £3.5m, despite the Park Inn tragedy. He said the Home Office report into the incident should be published in full.
“As this incident shows, being placed in hotel accommodation with very limited funds and no control over your life for long periods can have devastating consequences for the health and wellbeing of people who are only looking to rebuild their lives in safety,” he said.
The Home Office said the use of hotels to house asylum seekers had been “unacceptable” and said it had been working hard to find suitable alternatives; that required local councils to provide the right housing, it added.
It said lessons had been learned. “Since this horrific incident we have undertaken a number of significant changes to keep asylum seekers safe, including how we, our contractors and charities spot vulnerable individuals and provide them with wraparound support and appropriate accommodation,” it said.
