Bedfordshire immigration centre detainee cleared of assaulting guards

A female detainee at an immigration centre has been found not guilty of biting three guards and kicking a fourth while being restrained.

The 48-year-old was detained at Yarl's Wood near Bedford, and was resisting being put on a flight to Nigeria.

The flight was due to leave from Birmingham Airport later that day.

She was acquitted of four charges of assault by beating after the district judge said her claims she acted in self-defence had not been disproved.

On 30 May 2018 the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was being handed over by detention custody officers to escorts who would put her on the flight.

At Luton Magistrates' Court, she claimed she had resisted as she believed the removal was not going ahead after speaking with her solicitor.

Giving evidence she said she was thrown like a "bag of cement," ending up on the floor.

District Judge Sally Fudge said that on two previous occasions when the woman was being prepared for removal, only for it to be cancelled, she had been compliant.

The woman was asking to speak with her solicitor and Judge Fudge said: "Had she been allowed to speak to her solicitor what followed may have been avoided."

During her trial the court was told she had been raped at the age of eight in her home country.

Judge Fudge said when officers began to use force the woman may have been reliving previous experiences.

"Had she been thinking rationally I find it unlikely that she would have behaved in the same way," she said.

"I am satisfied the prosecution have not disproved self-defence and therefore I find her not guilty of all four charges."

The immigration centre is run by Serco, whose contract director Steve Hewer, said: "We note the decision of the court. We are confident that our staff acted appropriately under the policies and procedures governing the use of force in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre and we stand by their actions."