Robert Jenrick: 'Unacceptable' violence at Harmondsworth centre

Police officers and prison staff were called to the immigration centre after the "disturbance"

"Unacceptable levels of violence" took place at a west London immigration removal centre during a power cut, the immigration minister has said.

During the incident it is understood a group of detainees left their rooms and went into the courtyard armed with various weapons at Harmondsworth removal centre. No-one was injured.

Robert Jenrick expects the centre to be emptied by the end of the day.

He said those responsible for the violence would be "held to account".

The disorder took place at the premises following an "unprecedented and sustained" loss of power overnight at the detention facility in Harmondsworth, near Heathrow Airport.

It holds hundreds of men, including adult male asylum seekers, foreign offenders awaiting deportation and men who are in the UK illegally.

The Home Office said no detainees had left the premises and those involved had since been returned to their rooms.

In a statement Mr Jenrick, who visited the centre on Saturday, said: "Thankfully no staff working or individuals detained there were hurt, despite clear evidence of unacceptable levels of violence and disorder.

"The priority now is to move people to other centres while engineers fix the power fault and repair any damage...

"The perpetrators of this disturbance will be held to account and, where appropriate, removed from the country as swiftly as is practicable."

Metropolitan Police officers attended the incident on Friday evening but no arrests were made and the Prison Service's own riot squad was not called out.

A government report on the Harmondsworth immigration removal centre found some concerns with the site including living conditions "below an acceptable standard", following a scrutiny visit last year.

The chief inspector of prisons reported filthy cell toilets, problems with pests and dilapidated communal showers.

Other concerns raised included high levels of vulnerability among detainees, people assessed to be at risk of harm being held for too long and detainees being locked in their cells during lunch and overnight.

The purpose-built immigration removal centre opened in 2000 and has a capacity of about 670 people. It is run by contractors Mitie Care and Custody.

The centre has had a controversial history. In October 2012, detainee Prince Fosu, 31, was found dead on the floor of his cell, and two firms running the centre faced prosecution.

In 2018, the CPS reversed its decision saying the firms should not face health and safety charges.

Conditions at the centre were described as "desolate" by a 2016 report, which said some detainees were being held for too long.

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It comes as the government has faced widespread criticism this week for its handling of overcrowding at an immigration centre in Kent.

The Manston processing centre came under the spotlight after reports emerged that migrants, including families, were being held for four weeks, in breach of the law.

The site, meant to hold people for no more than 24 hours, was built to hold 1,600 migrants at any one time - but Home Office minister Chris Philp said there was more like 4,000 there on Monday.

Defending the government after criticism of its handling of the situation, Mr Philp said on Friday there had been a "dramatic improvement" in conditions.

Mr Philp, the area's MP, admitted mistakes had been made after two groups of migrants from the Manston centre had been left stranded in London.

He said both groups had told immigration officials they had addresses to go to but "that turned out subsequently not to be the case".

"Quite how that misunderstanding arose, maybe it was lost in translation, I don't know, but clearly they have now all been looked after," he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the challenge of migrants entering the UK via the English Channel as "serious and unprecedented" in an interview with the Times on Saturday.

"There's no easy overnight fix to that challenge," he said.