The nurses refused to believe she was pregnant until she presented them with the results of a miscarriage in a bucket.

She was not allowed to test her blood sugar four times daily as she had been advised to do by her GP, but only twice and the control of her diabetes deteriorated.

She vomited blood, but even after this was proved to be coming from her stomach (by gastroscopy) the nurses tried to continue feeding her Brufen, a drug which commonly causes gastric bleeding.

She next developed chest pain and was referred to hospital for a cardiograph, which was indeterminate. The cardiologist requested an isotope scan to be done at a second hospital.

The Detention Centre, for what it says were ‘security reasons’ refused to tell her about this appointment in advance, and she drank tea shortly before being taken to hospital. As a result, she developed chest pain during the test of such degree that the crash team had to be called and the scan terminated.

In the following month she was not re-referred by the detention centre for another appointment. The consultant wrote to the Detention Centre to complain.

She was released on bail following a medical report from a Medical Justice doctor. Following release, the Detention Centre failed to provide her or her new GP with her medical notes, despite repeated requests from her and the Medical Justice doctor. (This is important, because her diabetes and blood pressure are likely to be contributing to her increasing blindness.)

After a final protest to the Home Office about this, she was detained the following day, but suffered a further attack of chest pain and was hospitalised for 10 days.

She is pursuing an asylum case on fresh medical evidence of serious abuse in her country of origin and she is considering a civil case for damages against the detention centre and Home Office."

Dr Frank Arnold