A controversial UK Home Office deportation charter flight back to Zimbabwe took off at about 10.30pm last night with only around one-third of the passengers on board.
The flight was due to deport about 50 Zimbabweans but only 14 are believed to have been on board when it took off from Stansted. It presented the UK Home Office with a series of problems, with dozens of escorts self-isolating until later this week due to being exposed to colleagues with Covid -19
UK Home Office officials had confirmed on Tuesday evening that there is an outbreak of Covid at Brook House near Gatwick where some of the Zimbabweans were detained.
Some of those earmarked for return have spent decades in the UK, have families there and were politically active against the Mugabe regime.
Hours before the flight was due to take off two detainees due to board it threw themselves from a second floor landing at Colnbrook immigration removal centre on to netting below. They are believed to have been unharmed and were not removed.
An emergency out of hours high court challenge by Duncan Lewis solicitors to halt the whole flight did not succeed. However, the judge, Justice Steyn, accepted that anyone on the flight given face to face interviews with Zimbabwean officials before being issued with an emergency travel document required to enter Zimbabwe could be at risk on return.
A UK Home Office spokesperson said: “Foreign criminals who abuse our hospitality should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity.”
The Guardian