Inquest Hears Asylum Seeker Was ‘Upset’ by Age Review Before Death

An inquest has revealed that an asylum seeker, who died after being struck by a vehicle on a motorway slip road, had been “upset” the day before his death because a social worker did not accept his claim of being a child. Amir Safi was observed “ambling” up an M1 slip road in Nottinghamshire on April 28 last year, prior to being found with multiple bone fractures and a brain injury. Mr. Safi, who passed away a week later in hospital, had described the outcome of his age review as an “injustice,” having maintained he was 16 years old. At Derby Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, Coroner Susan Evans concluded that Mr. Safi’s death resulted from a road traffic collision. The inquest was informed that Mr. Safi had resided for five months at the Novotel hotel in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, which housed adult asylum seekers, after arriving in the UK from France on a small boat in October 2022. Jessica Anderson, a social worker for Nottinghamshire County Council, conducted Mr. Safi’s age assessment. She stated: “If we had determined Amir’s claimed date of birth and he was a child… he would have been removed from the hotel.” Ms. Anderson indicated that he claimed to be 11 years old in his ID photograph, but she did not believe him and thought he was older than he stated. Ms. Anderson agreed that Amir appeared “upset” and “disappointed” with the result, which he had termed an “injustice” during the meeting. Home Office records suggested his birth in January 2000, but the court heard that a translation of his Tazkira, an Afghan identity card, showed his date of birth as October 2006, which would have made him 16 at the time. Ms. Anderson added that she had “no doubt” about the decision at the time, but conceded that age assessments could be inaccurate. Another Afghan asylum seeker, who shared a room with Mr. Safi at the hotel in the three months leading up to his death, testified that his roommate was “normally happy,” but seemed “helpless and hopeless” after the age assessment. When questioned by Nottinghamshire Police, the National Document Fraud Unit reported that verifying the identity document was not possible due to a “lack of robust security features.” Coroner Ms. Evans stated that she lacked reliable evidence regarding Mr. Safi’s date of birth and recorded it as “unknown.” The inquest heard that Mr. Safi had informed the Home Office of his desire to claim asylum because he “feared” the Taliban and believed they would kill him. He stated that he paid £1,800 to smugglers, who then placed him on a small boat from France after he had traveled by car and foot for more than a year to Iran and Turkey from his home country, Afghanistan, the inquest was told. On April 28, Mr. Safi left the hotel at approximately 04:28 BST, and it was noted that the limited street lighting and his dark clothing would have made him difficult for drivers to see. The court was informed that he may have been struck by multiple vehicles on the slip road. Ms. Evans added: “I have considered whether Amir died as a result of suicide but I’m unable to conclude that he did. There is no evidence before me that he had any intention to end his life.”