A knife attack at the Park Inn hotel in Glasgow that was housing asylum seekers during lockdown was an 'avoidable tragedy', a new report has found.
The incident saw knifeman Badreddin Abdalla Adam stab six people - including a police officer, three other asylum seekers and two members of staff - at the city centre hotel on June 26, 2020. Adam, 28, was shot dead by officers following the mass stabbing.
An Asylum Inquiry Scotland review, commissioned by Refugees for Justice, said it was a consequence of people being moved from their homes into unsuitable accommodation during the Covid-19 lockdown.
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It emerged after the attack that Adam was struggling with his mental health at the hotel and had made over 70 calls to different organisations for help before the attack took place.
The private inquiry, led by Baroness Helena Kennedy KC was set up in June, however it was unable to compel witnesses to attend or force disclosure of evidence, reports BBC Scotland.
She accepted the report would be a "hard read" for both the Home Office and Mears Group but said the system was in urgent need of reform.
Baroness Kennedy added: "It is not good enough to rebrand housing officers as welfare officers and expect them to work skilfully with traumatised people. If commercial organisations are going to provide these services, that provision needs to be professionalised."
The overall conclusion of the panel is that this was an avoidable tragedy. It would not have happened had people been allowed to stay in their own homes during lockdown and continued to be provided with the routine modest cash payments they had received prior to the moves, and been allowed to continue to live their lives under the same restrictions as the rest of the population during that period, the report reads.
Refugees for Justice welcomed the final report and is calling on the government to set up a public inquiry, saying: "We now repeat our call on the government to set up as a matter of urgency a statutory public inquiry - with the power to compel witnesses and make legally binding recommendations - so that all the issues raised in this report can be thoroughly investigated.
"A statutory inquiry is the only way for the Home Office and its contractors to be held accountable for a dysfunctional and inhumane asylum system, which, as these findings show, is re-traumatising those who are put through it. As the testimony of asylum-seekers to the inquiry made clear, it is a system that is built around and sustained by a culture of fear.
"The voices in this report are powerful and moving. They tell of the impact on people's mental and physical health of being forced out of their homes, often at just a few minutes notice, and moved en masse into hotels which were not equipped for them. We are working with many people who are still suffering as a result, two years on.
"Those who were affected by the Park-Inn incident and their families and friends continue to seek justice. We see this report not as an end, but the beginning of taking concrete steps towards meaningful and lasting change."
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This incident in Glasgow was truly horrific and our thoughts are with those affected.
"We have since made significant changes to keep asylum seekers safe, including how we, our contractors and charities identify vulnerable individuals and ensure they are fully supported.
“We are dealing with an unprecedented increase in asylum cases but despite this we continue to ensure that the accommodation provided is safe, secure and leaves no one destitute.”
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