Concern is mounting over the welfare of Sierra Leone’s top sprinter, Jimmy Thoronka, who is understood to be in a distressed state following his arrest on Friday night after he was found in an emaciated state living rough on the streets of London.
It is understood that Thoronka, who is being held at Walworth police station in Elephant & Castle, has been interviewed by immigration officials who will attempt to remove him to Sierra Leone. He is understood to be frightened and tearful in custody.
The 20-year-old athlete, his country’s leading 100m sprinter, disappeared at the end of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last August. His whereabouts had been unclear until this week. He was arrested at around 7pm on Friday.
When Thoronka spoke to the Guardian before his detention, he said his situation was so desperate that he had contemplated suicide. The loss of his birth family in his country’s civil war and then his entire adopted family – his mother and four siblings – to Ebola a few months ago has left him in despair.
His physical health has deteriorated since he participated in last summer’s Games because he has often gone hungry and had to sleep on night buses or in a park.
Emma Mlotshwa , coordinator of the charity Medical Justice, which highlights concerns about the health and treatment of immigration detainees, raised concern that Thoranka’s detention would only exacerbate his poor health.
“Immigration removal centres are places where many detainees languish in indefinite detention despite not being accused of any crime and this has a tremendous negative impact on them,” Mlotshwa said. “We have seen detainees’ mental and physical health deteriorate in immigration detention and we fear for this man’s wellbeing given his existing reported vulnerabilities.”
Thoranka told the Guardian that he ended up sleeping rough after his money and passport were stolen at Glasgow station, and he eventually drifted down to London. He said that only his dream of becoming a world-class sprinter had kept him going over the last few months.
Prior to his detention he was still wearing a 2012 Olympic Games white rubber wristband. “I’m so proud of this,” he said. “I bought it for 50 pence at the market and every time I look at it I dream of competing in the Olympic Games in the future.”
There has been mounting concern about the UK’s use of immigration detention. Last week a report (pdf) from the all-party parliamentary groups on refugees and migration called for detention to be limited to 28 days and used only in exceptional circumstances because of the harm it causes to those who are locked up. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has echoed these concerns.
Last week Channel 4 News broadcast disturbing footage from Harmondsworth and Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centres, raising concerns about healthcare, the attitudes of staff and the physical conditions in which detainees are held.
Since the Guardian first reported Thoronka’s story, his plight has attracted widespread sympathy not just in the UK but from as far afield as Iceland, Kenya, Ecuador, Argentina, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Scores of people have offered Thoronka food and a room in their homes.
He has also received many supportive messages on Twitter, including from the actor Samanatha Morton and the model Lily Cole. A change.org petition has been set up to help him, and a gofundme.com campaign has raised more than £10,000.
When Thoronka heard about how many people from all over the world had offered to help him, he said: “I am overjoyed and very excited. Now I may be able to achieve my dream of becoming a top sprinter. Thank you so much to everybody who has offered to help me by donating money or offering me food, a place to stay or help with my training.”
If he returns to Sierra Leone he is not expected to receive any help with training, as he has become a “young adult orphan” and because of the Ebola crisis, which has killed more than 3,500 people in the country.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We cannot comment on individual cases, but there is assistance available for people to return home when they are not entitled to remain in the UK.”
