Newport asylum seeker Mustafa Dawood 'wasn't going to be arrested'

Mustafa Dawood was found under a broken section of plastic roofing

A Sudanese asylum seeker who died after falling through a roof while fleeing immigration officers wasn't going to be arrested, an inquest has heard.

Mustafa Dawood had been working illegally at a car wash in Newport when it was raided on 30 June, 2018.

He mistakenly thought he'd be arrested, so ran away from officers and onto a roof.

But Mr Dawood fell and suffered fatal head injuries, Newport Coroner's Court heard.

Immigration officer Gregory Williams found Mr Dawood and told the court: "Had Mustafa not run away, and spoke to us, he would have found out he was not allowed to work in the UK, and we would have told him to go home as he is not allowed to work, and a fine would have been issued to the owner of the car wash."

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Mr Williams added that Mr Dawood was never going to be arrested.

He told the inquest that people from Sudan cannot be removed from the UK "because of the situation in their country".

A previous hearing had been told Mr Dawood fled a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Sudan against Darfur's non-Arabs, including the Zaghawa tribe.

Mr Williams said: "It is about issuing the fine on the car wash, on the actual business, I didn't want him to die."

He added that immigration offices became concerned for the safety of Mr Dawood when he climbed onto the roof and "it was more of a welfare thing" as he started to run across it.

Mustafa Dawood had been working at Shaftesbury car wash in Albany Street, Newport

Chief immigration officer Heidi Mayo, who was responsible for the operation, told the inquest the plan was to "locate Mustafa and make sure he was ok".

She said she didn't recall having a conversation with the team about "retreating" once Mr Dawood was on the roof.

Ms Mayo said: "I've been an immigration officer since 2001 and nothing like this has ever happened before."

Counsel for Mr Dawood's family told the inquest a pursuit "must stop" if the person being pursued puts themselves in danger.

The inquest continues.