The Home Office has denied restricting the ‘movement and liberty’ of an asylum seeker who was found hanged on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
Leonard Farruku’s body was found in a bathroom on the controversial migrant barge moored in Portland Port, Dorset, by police and paramedics on December 12, 2023.
His roommate Yusuf Deen Kargbo, 20, from Sierra Leone, previously said his body lay undiscovered for 12 hours and that others on board were struggling to cope due to the confined conditions on the barge.
At his pre-inquest review which was attended by the Farruku’s Albanian family, their lawyer said they believed he was ‘effectively detained’ by the government.
But the Home Office denied the 27-year-old was ‘detained’ as they argue he was free to leave the barge at any time on shuttle buses.
Leonard Farruku, a 27-year-old Albanian, was found unresponsive on board the accommodation vessel at Portland Port, Dorset, on December 12
The Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, where Mr Farruku was found in a bathroom
A man arranges a floral wreath on Mr Farruku’s grave as he was laid to rest in Tirana in January
The Dorset senior coroner said she requires more evidence before she is able to ‘determine the issue of detention’ before a full inquest can take place.
The family have also asked her to consider whether there had been an operational breach under Article 2 ‘right to life’ of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Rachael Griffin said: ‘The family make the submission that although Mr Farruku was not detained under immigration powers, the intention was to restrict his movement and liberty so effectively he was detained.
‘The view of the Home Office is that Mr Farruku was not detained as he was free to leave at any time.
‘There is still information I require to be able to determine this issue because I need to understand the processes and procedures in place around access to and from the Bibby Stockholm.’
This week the new Labour government announced that the barge, which currently houses around 400 people, was being scrapped from next January.
The Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, where Mr Farruku was found in a bathroom
Ms Griffin told the hearing that her task was not to weigh up the merits of the Government’s asylum policy or the Bibby Stockholm.
She said: ‘My role as coroner is not to consider the UK’s asylum policy or whether the Bibby Stockholm should be used or not.
‘My role is to understand how Mr Farruku came to his death.
‘In respect of that it will be of interest to me to know about his mental health and his mental health difficulties, and what duties were owed to him, if any, by the public bodies he came into contact with to ameliorate those difficulties.’
Mr Farruku stayed at a hotel in Paignton, Devon, before being transferred to the Bibby Stockholm.
He was formally identified by his cousin Maranglen Farraku at Holly Tree Lodge Mortuary in Bournemouth on December 18.
A post-mortem examination gave his provisional cause of death as ‘compression of the neck due to suspension by ligature’.
There was no evidence of third-party involvement in his death.
The year to date has been the busiest for crossings so far, with 14,759 migrants arriving between January 1 and July 16 – the most recent date for which figures are available. This compares to 14,622 in 2022, the second busiest year
There are reports that Mr Farruku paid almost £3,500 to travel to the UK across the Channel in a small boat in 2022.
He was reportedly found dead in a communal bathroom on the barge with the police being called at 6.22am.
It has been reported that he had been crying out for help and asked for an emergency doctors’ appointment the day before his death.
Ms Griffin scheduled the next pre inquest review for March 4, 2025, where she will outline the ‘scope’ of the inquest.
A provisional date of September 15, 2025, was given for his full inquest, which is due to last until October 24.
It has not yet been decided if a jury inquest is required.
In January his roommate Mr Kargbo said the last time he saw the Albanian alive was when he went for an evening meal in the Bibby Stockholm’s canteen.
The next pre inquest review into Mr Farruku’s death will be heard on March 4, 2025, where the ‘scope’ of the inquest will be outlined
The barge will no longer be used for housing migrants after Sir Keir Starmer’s government revealed it will no longer be required
When he came back to his room after dinner to use the toilet he found the bedroom door was locked. He assumed Mr Farruku was using the bathroom so went to find another bathroom.
He then walked to another part of the barge where the WiFi signal was known to be better and made a call home lasting an hour and a half before returning to his bunk and falling asleep.
The boxer woke up at 5.30am and found Mr Farruku’s bed had not been slept in. Pushing the door to the bathroom, he found it was once again locked so raised the alarm.
‘At first they didn’t take me seriously but after I asked them again they came and had a look,’ he told The Guardian.
‘When they got no reply they forced the door open and found Leonard unconscious.’
Mr Kargbo described his former roommate as a ‘nice, kind man who always smiled and said hello’.
An inflatable dinghy carrying around 65 migrants crosses the English Channel in March
Pictured: Migrants await immigration officers after arriving at Dungeness, England
Mr Farruku, who was born just outside Durres, Albania’s second largest city, had come to the UK to find work and secure indefinite leave to remain, his sister said.
He had travelled to the UK in August 2022 in the hope of building a new life in Britain. His mother died when he was 17 and his father a few years later.
In Instagram messages, seen by The Guardian, he said to an old primary school friend in Tirana, his home country’s capital: ‘Losing my mother and father very suddenly traumatised me
‘I didn’t know where I was or what was happening. I’m seeking asylum now. I live in a hotel. I hope God will protect us.’
In the aftermath of his death, his family and friends still have questions about what drove Mr Farruku, formerly an ambitious and gifted accordion player with a seemingly promising future, to take his own life.
His sister Jola Dushku, 33, who lives in Lombardy, Italy, said: ‘We never ever will have peace in our minds until the moment we find the truth about the circumstances inside that barge that contributed for our brother to commit suicide.’
His cousin, Andi, who did not want to give his surname, told the paper: ‘He wanted to go to the UK but because it’s very difficult, seeking asylum was the way he understood it could happen and he could have permission to work, but I don’t know of any real reason for him to seek asylum.’
The basis of Mr Farruku’s asylum claim is not yet known but his application was being considered by the Home Office at the time of his death
The basis of Mr Farruku’s asylum claim is not yet known but his application was being considered by the Home Office at the time of his death.
Bibby Stockholm previously hit headlines in August 2023 – after it was evacuated following the discovery of potentially fatal Legionella bacteria in the water supply.
Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft revealed in a letter in January to MPs that the cost of the Bibby Stockholm contract was £22,450,772.
He stated that this covered the ‘vessel accommodation services’ portion of the contract with operators CTM.
He said the assessment of whether the vessel offered value for money was ‘currently being updated’.
Campaigners have said that a man on board the Bibby Stockholm had tried to take his life earlier this year.
But the barge will no longer be used for housing migrants after Sir Keir Starmer’s government revealed it will no longer be required.
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle claimed it would no longer be necessary to keep the barge open because of reduced demand due to efforts to clear the asylum backlog – and said the move would save £20 million a year.
The Home Office (London headquarters pictured) denied Mr Farruku was ‘detained’ as they argue he was free to leave the barge at any time on shuttle buses
One man on board, a 26-year-old Yemeni who goes by the name Smith and who arrived in Britain in July 2023, celebrated the decision and said he wanted to fulfil his dream of working in British cybersecurity.
He told MailOnline earlier today: ‘That was the moment hope returned to everyone.
‘The people who have been here for eight months will be moved off the Bibby for their interviews and they say they will see to everyone else as quickly as they can.
‘I am excited about the future as I hope that I will be granted asylum so I can work in cybersecurity.’
The Government’s new policy will mean asylum seekers who have been on board the barge for eight months will be taken off immediately for interviews, while everyone else will have their claims processed as quickly as possible.
Suella Braverman, the Tory former home secretary, accused Labour of signalling that Britain is ‘open for illegal migrants’ and ‘flashing the green light to the people smugglers’ after announcing it was closing the Bibby Stockholm.
But some campaigners have called for it to be scrapped sooner due to what they claim are ‘unbearable’ conditions on board that have been compared to a prison.
The Home Office does not comment on individual cases or ongoing legal proceedings
A spokesperson said: ‘This was a tragic incident and our thoughts are with everyone affected.
‘This incident is currently being investigated by the police and coroner, and it is right that the facts and circumstances are established in the appropriate, legal manner.’
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