Detained migrant hangs himself

The jury at Oxford Old Assizes returned a verdict of suicide in the case of Moldovan-born Ianos Dragutan, who was found hanged in a shower cubicle at Kidlington's Campsfield House last August.

Mr Dragutan had served three months at London's Wandsworth Prison for possessing false documentation before arriving at Campsfield on July 31, the court heard.

Two days later officers told Mr Dragutan to collect his belongings for release, although it is believed that he was also due to face questioning in connection with a rape case.

When police arrived Mr Dragutan left the waiting room, entered the shower block and hung himself, the court heard.

The death came less than a month after prison inspectors warned Campsfield contractor GEO it had made "insufficient progress" in fixing serious lapses in its risk assessments of detainees leaving the centre.

Meetings were focused "purely on minimising risk of disruption and assessing the amount of time detainees should spend in the short stay unit.

"Appropriate notice of removal directions was given to detainees but there was sometimes little notice of transfer or information about the reasons for it," it concluded.

In 2005 Kurdish teenager Ramazan Kumluca killed himself after more than four months in Campsfield, while the centre has also seen repeated rooftop protests and hunger strikes.

A spokesperson for the Campaign To Close Campsfield said it was a "sad state of affairs."

"This is the second suicide now and it should encourage more people to see the injustices that are occurring at Campsfield and we should all be demanding it should be closed," he said.

A UK Border Agency spokeswoman insisted today Mr Dragutan's death could not have been prevented - but "nevertheless demanded urgent action from our contractor."