An 84-year-old man with dementia who suffered a fatal heart attack after five hours in shackles following detention at Gatwick airport died of natural causes, an inquest has found.
The jury found that electrical engineer Alois Dvorzac was suffering “acute coronary heart disease, diabetes type 2 with borderline (varying) mental capacity” when he died in February 2013.
However, in a “short-form conclusion” they found failings at Harmondsworth immigration detention centre, where Dvorzac has been held for two weeks before he died.
They said there was “a lack of unified procedures and training and access to relevant data records in dealing with a person of this age and capacity”.
Over a nine-day inquest jurors heard that security staff had made assumptions in their risk assessment about Dvorzac that led to him being handcuffed and being shackled by chain to a custody officer on the day of his death.
They also heard from five doctors, who found that Dvorzac, invariably described as “vulnerable and frail”, was unfit for detention at Harmondsworth, home to around 600 male asylum seekers.
The jury noted that Dvorzac, had “refused most medication, treatment and sustenance” and had “borderline mental capacity”.
Dvorzac, who was on his way to Slovenia to be reunited with his daughter, had been stopped by immigration officials because he could not give a clear account of his onward travel plans.
He arrived from Vancouver and was refused entry to Britain. After a night sleeping on chairs in a holding centre at Gatwick airport he was taken for a medical assessment at East Surrey hospital. After four days he was returned into the custody of immigration after attempts to contact his daughter failed.
