A man was left in a cell in “excruciating agony” for four days with a broken ankle after Home Office contractors involved in a deportation charter flight were too busy to take him to hospital, the Guardian has learned.

Lionel Shaw, 33, is a partially blind and partially deaf Jamaican man who has lived in the UK for 18 years, arriving in Britain at the age of 15.

He was arrested and placed in Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow last month. The Home Office planned to deport him to Jamaica for overstaying. He has no criminal convictions.

On Monday 24 February, he slipped on a wet floor and fell to the ground. Medical notes from the detention centre, seen by the Guardian, state after Shaw slipped and fell: “no injuries or bleeding observed”. Painkillers and ice were advised, along with rest, ankle exercises and urine bottles because he was unable to walk to the toilet.

A later medical note on 26 February states: “I have tried to arrange for the patient to go to the hospital for the X-ray as requested by the GP. Unfortunately the contractor is not able to provide the necessary escorting staff this afternoon due to a planned charter flight.”

Speaking from his hospital bed at Hillingdon hospital, Shaw, 33, told the Guardian he slipped and fell on a wet floor at the detention centre after officers asked detainees to leave their cells for a room search.

“I slipped and it got my right foot. It happened right in front of the officers. They could see I was in very bad pain but they told me my ankle wasn’t broken. I asked them to call an ambulance for me but they didn’t do it.

“I was left in Harmondsworth in bed in my cell for four days. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t wash or change my clothes because the pain was so terrible. I had to rely on urine bottles and food other detainees brought to my cell. I couldn’t walk to go and press the bell to get assistance. Now that they’ve finally brought me to hospital I have two guards by my bedside.

“The officers in Harmondsworth made me feel less than human. I was forced to wet myself because I could not move from the bed,” he said.

He said that on Thursday detention centre staff said they would take him to hospital by car but he said he could not move his leg so would not be able to get into a car.

“At that point I thought I might die so I called the police and asked them to get me an ambulance.”

He said doctors at Hillingdon hospital were due to carry out surgery on his broken ankle on Monday, which they estimate will take four hours.

“The doctors have told me it might be a year or more before I can walk properly again,” he said. “When I finally arrived at the hospital on Thursday [27 February] by ambulance the doctors asked them why I had waited so long to come to hospital. I told them it was not my decision.”

A Change.org petition has been launched to free Shaw from detention and ensure he gets appropriate medical treatment.

Maria Thomas, from Duncan Lewis solicitors, who is representing Shaw, expressed concern about his treatment. She said: “We are deeply concerned about the delay in transferring our client to hospital in light of reports that he sustained multiple fractures in his ankle after a fall in the detention centre and was left in excruciating agony and unable to get out of bed for nearly four days.”

Karen Doyle from Movement For Justice, who has been supporting Shaw said: “Like the Windrush scandal, Lionel’s case proves that the Home Office and their contractors prioritise charter flights and deportation targets over human lives.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The welfare of those in detention is of paramount importance and it is crucial that detention is carried out with dignity and respect.The provision of 24-hour, seven-days-a-week healthcare in all immigration removal centres ensures that individuals held there have ready access to medical professionals and levels of primary care in line with individuals in the community.”

The Home Office contractor at Harmondsworth, Mitie, has secured a new three-year contract to provide security services to the Home Office, beginning on 1 April. Mitie has declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust, who provide healthcare at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre, said: “We are sorry for Mr Shaw’s distress and share the concern about delays. Healthcare provide help within the IRC and staff have no power to take people out of the IRC (the IRC’s Care and Custody Team make those arrangements).

“Mr Shaw was seen immediately by healthcare staff after the fall but staff were unsure about the extent of his ankle injury; he was given analgesia, his leg elevated and kept under review.

“The following day he was seen by the GP who recommended an x-ray.The IRC’s care and custody team were unable to take him so he was given more analgesia and a registered nurse kept him under review. The care and custody team took him for an x-ray on Thursday. We have no further update on Mr Shaw’s injury.”



