AN ASYLUM-SEEKER killed himself just hours before he was to be deported so that his 13-year-old son could continue going to school in Britain.

Manuel Bravo, 35, wrote a harrowing suicide note before he hanged himself at an immigration detention centre on the eve of the day when he and his son, Antonio, were to be sent back to Angola. While Antonio lay sleeping Mr Bravo left him a note saying simply: “Be good, son, and do well at school.”

His son is being allowed to stay in Britain for five years, on humanitarian grounds, to finish his secondary education.

An inquest jury was shown CCTV footage yesterday of Mr Bravo’s final moments as he slipped out of their shared room at Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire and tied a bedsheet to a metal stairwell. He was found hanged at 2.05am.

The jurors at Bedford Magistrates’ Court heard how, six months before his death, Mr Bravo had written of his despair at the time it was taking the Home Office to consider his plea to remain in Britain.

He claimed that his parents, leading opposition figures in Angola, had been murdered and his two sisters raped and killed, so he feared for the safety of his son, and himself, if they had to return.

Mr Bravo and his son were arrested in a dawn raid on their home at Armley, Leeds, in September last year and taken to the detention facility near Bedford. They were told that they would be escorted on to a flight the next day.

In his last note, Mr Bravo wrote: “I kill myself because I do not have a life to live any more. I want my son Antonio to stay in UK to continue his studies.”

He ended by saying: “It is not the fault of anyone, it is just my decision. I am sorry.”

His wife, Lydia, and their younger son, Mellyu, had returned home to care for sick relatives earlier in 2005, but Mr Bravo later received a letter from the Red Cross saying that she had been detained in Angola. There were reports that the mother and son later managed to flee to Namibia.

Mr Bravo’s father was a leader of the Association of the Youth Democracy in Angola, an opposition party challenging the President, José Eduardo dos Santos.

The coroner, David Morris, read a letter to the jury that Mr Bravo had written in April 2005 saying: “This situation is very distressful for me. I cannot work, I cannot do anything in my life. I want to return to my country but it is not safe for my son Antonio or me.

“I prefer to kill myself here in England. I do not have any family or friends here in England. If I die I would like my son, Antonio, to stay with the Government or NSPCC or youth protection.”

The Rev Alistair Kaye, a family friend and the parish priest of Christ Church in Armley, told the jury how he had spoken to Mr Bravo just before his death. He described him as being “very down”.

On the day of his father’s death, Antonio Bravo was put in the care of social services. The following week he was placed in foster care in Leeds, where he remains. He will have to seek indefinite leave to remain in the UK when he reaches 18.

The court was told that the prisons ombudsman found that there had been no breaches in procedures at Yarl’s Wood.

The jury returned a verdict that Mr Bravo took his own life in the belief that it could secure his son’s future.

After the hearing, Mr Kaye said: “I feel that if Manuel had been properly legally represented, if he had been dealt with with care and compassion, he would still be here today.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor