January 2nd 2024.
The tragic death of Leonard Farruku, an Albanian asylum seeker onboard the Bibby Stockholm barge, has left his family in a desperate situation. Leonard was found dead on December 12, 2020 at Portland Port in Dorset, following a suspected suicide.
The 27-year-old's family is now unable to afford the costs of repatriating his body, so they have set up a GoFundMe page in the hope of raising £10,000. Since Tuesday afternoon, the page has already raised almost £2,000.
Leonard's sister, Jola Dushku, expressed her distress, saying that they are facing a 'double tragedy'. She said, “It was a tragedy we lost a brother in such circumstances but we are now facing a double tragedy with not being able to have his body back home to have the funeral ceremony. We don't know how long it will take for the money to be raised.”
In a statement on the fundraising page, Jola wrote, “Our brother Leonard Farruku's life ended unimaginably for all of us while in the UK. An inquest has been opened into the circumstances of his death. Leonard's body has been in the Dorset morgue since his death on December 12 2023. We kindly ask for help to raise funds to have Leonard's body returned from the UK back home to Albania to rest in peace.”
An inquest opened by Dorset coroner Rachael Griffin heard that a post-mortem examination found he had died from 'compression of the neck' caused by 'suspension by ligature'. Home Secretary James Cleverly has promised a full investigation into the death.
The Daily Telegraph reported that Leonard had paid 4,000 euros to cross the English Channel in a small boat. Jola said, “When I spoke with him last time, he told me that the conditions in that boat were not bad but they were treated by the guards like animals.”
In response to the tragedy, the government deleted an impact assessment from their website. This assessment argued that the policy of housing up to 500 single men on the barge was 'directly discriminating in relation to age and sex'. It said that this discrimination was justified because there was a greater need to house male asylum seekers in that age range.
Leonard Farruku's death is an immense tragedy and his family is now facing a difficult situation to find the necessary funds to repatriate his body. We urge those who can to please donate to their GoFundMe page to help them in their time of need.
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