Nigerian Lady Takes Overdose of Drugs to avoid being Deported,Now in coma

An asylum seeker who is married to a British man is fighting for her life in hospital after an overdose just days before she was due to be sent back to Nigeria.

May Brown, a 19-year-old college student, fled to Britain from her home country three years ago after witnessing her father’s murder and being subjected to sexual abuse.

She settled in Weymouth, Dorset, where she met her husband, Michael Brown, 12 months ago and the couple married last December.

Mrs Brown, who was a games maker at last summer’s Olympics and has two university offers to study law, applied to stay in the UK but despite her marriage her application was rejected.

Asylum seeker May Brown (right) is fighting for her life in hospital after an overdose days before she was due to be sent back to Nigeria. Border officials say her marriage to Michael (left) is a ‘sham’

Mr Brown, 34, said UK Border Agency officials believe their marriage to be a ‘sham’ with no
’emotional attachment’.

His wife was told she would be flown back to Nigeria tomorrow.

She was so distressed at the prospect of returning to her home country she took an overdose of medication.

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Her mother-in-law, Helen-Claire Brown, found her collapsed on the bathroom floor on Monday morning with a note to her husband saying she ‘couldn’t live without him’.

The teenager was rushed to the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester where she remains in a coma in intensive care.

Happy day: The couple on their wedding day. Miss Brown wrote that she couldn’t live without her husband

May wrote: ‘I am deeply sorry that I had to go this way, without even saying goodbye.

‘The UK immigration has finally driven me insane. They’ve pushed me too far this time and I can’t take the pain any more.

‘I don’t want a life or a future you won’t be part of. I love you so much, more than life itself and can’t endure the agony of not being with you.

‘Please forgive me for ending it this way. It’s better to die with my dignity than be subjected to torture and undignified death back in Nigeria.’

Before she took the overdose, May had said she feared her abusers would kill her if she returned to the African country because she witnessed her father’s death.

Helen-Claire Brown, Miss Brown’s mother-in-law, said the 19-year-old is part of the family and blasted border officials as ‘heartless’

She said: ‘If they send me back to Nigeria they are signing my death warrant, they will cut my life short because I will be killed.

‘I have found peace with Michael, he gave me a reason to live. I have got a family here and we don’t claim any benefits.

‘Michael works and I am studying to become a barrister, we have not harmed anybody.’

Mr Brown, a former soldier who now works for a removals company, insisted the couple’s marriage was genuine and slammed the UK Border Agency for its treatment of his wife.

He said: ‘May is the most beautiful, kindest, loving person I have ever met. I can’t live with myself if anything happens to her.

‘She is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with and you can’t pretend something like that.

‘All we want is a life together. But I’m so angry that is being taken away from us.’

Mother-in-law Helen-Claire, 59, added: ‘May is a part of our family and the way the immigration service has treated her is so, so wrong and heartless.

‘She came here on a student visa and has applied for asylum because she fears for her life if she goes back.

‘What kind of world do we live in when a 19-year-old girl who has been through so much already feels she has no other choice but to kill herself?’

Miss Brown is studying public affairs at Weymouth College and hopes to go to university and become a barrister.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We cannot comment in detail on this case while legal proceedings are ongoing.

‘In cases where people are found to have no right to remain in the UK they should leave voluntarily or face removal.’

For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch, or see www.samaritans.org for details

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Comments (281)

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aren’t laws made to be followed? go through the process,apply.

– oldsoutherngal , savannah, 24/4/2013 22:52

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This government wants immigrants in the country where it can manipulate other countries and reap the benefits. Does it really care about people seeking asylum?

– quin , essex, UK, 24/4/2013 22:49

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Maybe we havnt been told all the facts, if they love each other like they say then two tickets to Africa.

– Andy , Wigan, United Kingdom, 24/4/2013 22:49

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“I really hate being British! Can’t wait to leave this hell hole and move to Australia.” – Tom, SWINDON, 25/4/2013 3:01 ===================================================================================== I live in Australia but I am fiercely and forever proud to be British. Please stay in England . Thank you.

– Marcus , Sydney, Australia, 24/4/2013 22:43

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This makes a whole lot of sense doesn’t it, typically English I’d say. Authorities will put and expend massive amounts of resources to expel this woman, who by accounts is a law abiding person. Then the government will turn a blind eye to all the crime that undesirables from Romania and other countries from the former Eastern bloc Nations. – Melvin Leppla, jacksonville, United States,+++Yes, it makes complete sense. Some of those former Eastern bloc countries are now members of the EU and have right of entry and residence in all other states within it. The woman seeking asylum is from an African country. They are not in the EU. She entered the UK on a student visa and when that expired she decided to stay here. She did not meet the residence requirements when eventually discovered and will be sent back to her home.

– Harry Faversham , Kent, United Kingdom, 24/4/2013 22:41

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It seems that if you break the law and an illegal immigrant the courts want deport you as it is against your human rights, but if you come over here work hard fall in love and get married then you have to be deported. Picking on soft targets is a very cowardly thing to do. The case of the twelve year old girl who was knocked off her bike and killed by a Somalia man, he was not deported because of human rights.

– woolstone , Rayleigh, United Kingdom, 24/4/2013 22:40

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So they can shove this poor lass on a plane but not Abu Qatada? Something is not quite right about that!

– yknowme , Leeds, 24/4/2013 22:39

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SORRY BUT IF YOU WANT TO STAY IN THIS COUNTRY YOU NEED TO WISE UP AND PLAY THE ASYLUM GAME. YOU WILL NEVER BE DEPORTED AS 1. YOU KEEP ON APPEALING WITH LEGAL AID, 2. BY THE TIME IT GOES TO COURT YOU WILL HAVE ESTABLISHED KIDS AND “ROOTS” HERE SO YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS WILL BE CONTRAVENED IF FORCED TO LEAVE – SIMPLES ! just follw this guaranteed formula forvsuccess.

– Andy Hardy , London, 24/4/2013 22:35

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This couple should apply for a spouse visa for May. I am not sure who advised her to apply for asylum, but as many people have noted, the story asylum story sounds flaky at best. if she fled 3 years ago after her father was killed, that would mean that she was 16 when she left. Who paid for her student visa application, her ticket and her education (you need to have been accepted at a UK education facility and paid all or part of the fees). Surely she has siblings. If her father’s so-called murderers were after her, then they would also be after her siblings, so where are they? You can see why the asylum claim was rejected. There too many unanswered questions. However as she is married she is entitled to a spouse visa. As for those referring to the nasty piece of work Abu Qatada, all I can say he has a damn good lawyer. I don’t know how that lawyers sleeps at night though knowing he or she is defending the most hated man in the UK.

– paula , LONDON, 24/4/2013 22:34

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If she was here illegally- she has no right to stay- tragic .

– Charles , Herts, 24/4/2013 22:27

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