Drita

Drita was a 32-year-old woman who was an Albanian citizen and who had been taken into immigration following a raid on her accommodation. On arrival, she spoke briefly to the nurse triaging people at the detention centre but refused the offer of an appointment with the doctor. At the time she seemed quiet and withdrawn but her behaviour gave no particular cause for concern to detention staff.

She remained in detention for several months and agreed to regular visits by an AVID member, Gill. Drita had no contact with healthcare during this time but was able to tell Gill that she was often feeling panicked, faint, nauseous and having palpitations. Gill encouraged her to contact the healthcare department to discuss these symptoms. Drita did this but said that she was given ECG heart monitoring for the palpations and told that all was well. Gill also gave her the number for Samaritans - explaining this is a free mental health helpline that she could call anytime if she was struggling and wanted someone to talk to.

After more meetings with Gill and time talking to a mental health charity on the phone, Drita started to talk about her time in the UK and became tearful. She said she had been made to go to a police station, she was not able to say much but it was obvious that she very distressed as she was shaking and finding it hard to speak. Gill suggested that she needed to talk to her legal representative about how she was managing in detention, but Drita said she did not know them well and was worried that they would be expensive.

After more meetings Drita told Gill she was frightened that the people she knew in the UK would come and get her but was not willing to say more. Gill asked for the details of her legal representative and could see that they provided legal aid. She asked Drita if she could speak to her legal representative, Hussain. Drita agreed. Gill explained to Hussain that she had been meeting Drita regularly and that she was worried about the cost of legal advice and seemed frightened of people in the UK.

This led to Hussain having more contact with Drita, explaining she did not need to be worried about the costs of his work. During this time Gill continued to visit Drita and reiterate that she had an independent lawyer who would not charge her money. Drita then explained she had to “spend time with men in the UK” when she did not want this but did not elaborate further. Gill encouraged her to confide in Hussain about her time in the UK and said she was also happy to listen to anything Drita wanted to talk about.

Hussain then arranged for a medico-legal assessment for Drita, who, after more time with a specialist doctor, was able to talk about a situation of sexual exploitation and abuse in the UK. Although Drita had a minor criminal conviction, she was able to explain her situation in more detail and that this was committed as result of coercion. This allowed the clinician to provide a summary of Drita’s history, and an opinion about the adverse effect of further detention explaining she had already suffered panic attacks in detention and was likely to deteriorate further if not released.

The report was shared with both the Home Office and the IECA. Drita was accepted under the NRM with the IECA issuing a reasonable grounds decision that she was likely to have been the victim of trafficking. The combination of this referral with the medico-legal report was sufficient to ensure that the Home Office had to consider Drita at level 3 risk under the adults at risk policy, despite her criminal conviction. After further legal advocacy by Hussain, Drita was released from detention and connected with organisations that could support her recovery.