The family of a Windrush migrant who died suddenly after being classified an illegal immigrant walked out of the inquest after a coroner ruled Home Office policy played no role in his death.

Dexter Bristol, 57, who came to the UK from Grenada aged eight, collapsed and died from acute heart failure in the street outside his home on 31 March. He had been sacked from his cleaning job and then denied benefits because officials did not believe he was in the country legally.

Dr William Dolman ruled on Tuesday that the Home Office should not be an interested party in the inquest as its policy was not relevant to the immediate circumstances of his death.

He said it was “absolutely clear” that Mr Bristol was under “some sort of distress or pressure” but said this did not come solely from his immigration status.

During the inquest, Dr Dolman had a heated exchange with the lawyer of the family, Una Morris, who tried to make submissions to the court about the role Home Office policy might have played, accusing her of “trying to tell me how to run my court” and repeatedly ordering her to sit down.

He later apologised to Ms Morris and Mr Bristol’s family, saying: “I didn’t mean any discourtesy at all,” to which she responded: “My concern isn’t for myself as much as the impact on the family, the family are deeply upset at the way you spoke to me.”

Mr Bristol’s family subsequently decided to leave the court room.

Irene Nembhard, Ms Bristol’s solicitor, told The Independent the family were now seeking an urgent judicial review of the ruling, saying they had “no confidence in the process fearlessly investigating the role of the Home Office policies” in placing excess stress on Mr Bristol.

She added: “[The family] withdrew after the coroner made two rulings this morning; declining to treat the Home Office as an interested person and declining to seek disclosure from the Home Office of any documents in their possession relating to Mr Bristol.”

Speaking outside court, Mr Bristol’s mother Sentina Bristol said: “We want justice, that’s what we’re fighting for – justice. That’s what I would like to see happen.

“The coroner was very rude... no sympathy for anyone... I feel disappointed. I feel same just like when I lost my son. The feelings I had then, I have them now.”

The inquest proceeded after the family departed, and Dr Dolman ruled that Mr Bristol died from natural causes, an acute cardiac arrhythmia.

During the hearing, Mr Bristol’s immigration lawyer, Jacqueline McKenzie, said he became a “shadow of himself” and that his battle to prove his right to be in the UK had taken a devastating toll on his health.

“We saw at the outset a very robust person but distressed by the fact that he was having to prove his status in the country, even though he had been here since 1968,” she said.

“He was prepared to fight but, as the months went on and he was required to find more evidence, it became very difficult and we saw him just decline into a shadow of himself.”

A letter she wrote reassuring him that his case would be resolved was found unopened after his death, she said.

Announcing his decision, Dr Dolman said: “I accept from the evidence that the deceased was suffering from a great deal of stress at the time.”

He passed his sympathy on to the family and said: “I am so sorry that they are not here to have heard the evidence. All that might have been asked I have tried to ask on their behalf.”

A pre-inquest review into Mr Bristol’s death in July heard that the 57 year old had refrained from accessing healthcare for nearly two years before he died due to immigration concerns.

Ms Morris told the pre-inquest review that he had been under “extreme stress” having been subjected to “racist and xenophobic” hostile environment policies.

Ms McKenzie, who had been working to obtain a passport for Mr Bristol prior to his death, said in a statement submitted to the court that in the months before he died he would often complain to her of feeling unwell, saying it was down to the pressure of having to prove his immigration status.

Following the hearing on Tuesday, Ms McKenzie said: “It’s really distressing that the family decided that they couldn’t participate in the proceedings – I think that’s really sad but I think they were quite right to do so.

“I think the start of the proceedings were very, very difficult, I think the coroner did not show courtesy to the family or to their legal team so I understand how they feel.“

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I can’t face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty

Records show Mr Bristol had carried out a job search for hotel cleaning jobs or porter roles in 2016 with Maximus, a company working on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help people find work. But it was noted that he didn’t have a right to work document.

A Christmas card sent to his retired NHS nurse mother, 76-year-old Sentina, four months before he died, read: “This whole thing is making me bitter and hateful and nobody wants to be that way for ever.”

The court also heard that Mr Bristol was not identified as someone being at high risk of heart failure before the issues with his immigration status.

Deborah Coles, director of charity Inquest, told The Independent the fact that the Home Office was not brought into the inquest amounted to a “missed opportunity” to highlight concerns that may safeguard the lives of others.”

She added: “For a family to have to leave an inquest in dismay at the cursory inquiry into their loved one’s death is really concerning not least when bereaved families are supposed to be at the heart of the process.