Asylum seeker found dead in grounds of Yorkshire hotel days after he had self-harmed

Irakli Kapanadze’s body was found hanging from a tree in the grounds of Cedar Court Hotel, Denby Dale Road, Wakefield, on September 14 this year.

The 37-year-old married father-of-two had been housed at the hotel for almost a year along with other asylum seekers.

An inquest in Wakefield heard Mr Kapanadze had previously threatened to self-harm unless he could be moved out of hotel accommodation.

Senior coroner Kevin McLoughlin described the circumstances surrounding the tragedy as “immensely sad”.

The court heard Mr Kapanadze entered the country illegally on September 30, 2022, and applied for asylum on the same day.

He was placed at Cedar Court and had been staying in room 223.

His asylum claim was still ongoing at the time of his death and his wife and children remained in Georgia.

Police were contacted at 2.52pm after Mr Kapanadze was found in the hotel grounds with a ligature around his neck attached to a tree.

Hotel staff cut him down and an ambulance was called but attempts by paramedics to revive him failed.

His death was confirmed at 3.02pm that day.

There were no external cameras covering the area where Mr Kapanadze’s body was found.

He was fully clothed and wearing a baseball hat.

The court heard marks were found on his lower leg which not not appear recent.

Mr McLoughlin said: “It is not clear whether they were self-harm marks.”

A mobile phone was found in his pocket which was examined.

Letters were found in his room relating to his immigration status and asylum claim.

West Yorkshire Police launched an investigation and contacted the Home Office to establish Mr Kapanadze’s immigration status.

Enquiries revealed that Mr Kapanadze was registered as a patient at Trinity Medical Centre, Thornhill Street, Wakefield, but had never been seen by anyone at the surgery.

A Home Office letter to the medical centre stated that, on January 5, Mr Kapanadze threatened to harm himself if he was not rehoused.

He reported to a housing advisor who carried out a welfare check that we was feeling isolated.

Mr Kapanadze was offered a mental health referral but declined.

On September 11, three days before his death, a mental health nurse was called to the hotel when he used a razor blade to cut his wrists.

He was taken to Pinderfields Hospital on that occasion and was offered a mental health review but again declined.

Mr Kapanadze told medical staff that he had phoned home because there was a problem which he “could just not resolve whilst he was in England” but refused to give further details.

Mr McLoughlin said: “That seems to have created a sense of helplessness in this poor gentleman.

“That seems to be what prompted his self-harm that day.

“There was some turmoil in his home life.”

The court heard a welfare officer at the hotel tried to speak to him the next day but he said he did not want to talk about it.

Two other Georgian nationals were also staying at the hotel.

He had spoken to them but did not mention his domestic problems.

The senior coroner continued: “It wasn’t easy for the police to obtain information.

“He only revealed that there had been a recent death in the family but he didn’t give any indication as to who it was.”

A post mortem report gave the cause of death as hanging.

The police investigation concluded that there were no suspicious circumstances or suggestion of anyone else being involved in the death.

Recording the death as suicide. Mr McLoughlin said: “It is an immensely sad history here, of a gentleman who has spent a year in England and has been unable to work, so I infer he is not generating any income.

“He is isolated by virtue of language difficulties and has no family, but has got a family that he would be responsible for in Georgia.

“He seems to have disclosed something to suggest there was a problem at home but we have no details as to what that was.

“Overall, I am left wondering what benefit this poor gentleman derived from coming to England.

“It really is a sad case.”

“I offer my heartfelt sympathy to his family who must be having to struggle with what happened to him.”

A number of hotels in the Wakefield Council district are being used to accommodate asylum seekers.

In June, the Home Office informed the council of its intention to double the number of asylum seeker spaces at Cedar Court.

The local authority was told that the number would increase from 148 to 306.

The move came days after it was announced that St Pierre Hotel, in Newmillerdam, would be used to temporarily accommodate asylum seekers.