Nigerian asylum seeker with PTSD was found dead by devastated girlfriend in Blackpool home

A Nigerian man who came to England as a stowaway on a container ship took his own life after his asylum application was thrown out by the Home Office.
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Toheeb Popoola was found dead by his girlfriend, Judith Stalker, at their South Shorehome at around 10.20am on July 2021.

A post-mortem found the cause of death was hanging, and that the 29-year-old had been dead for several hours before he was discovered.

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Mr Popoola hit national headlines in December 2018 when he engaged in a 14-hour stand-off with police on Thames Estuary after being found hiding onboard the Grand Tema container ship with three other men.

Toheeb PopoolaToheeb Popoola
Toheeb Popoola

The men had been imprisoned by the crew in a room for five days, before breaking out and arming themselves with metal bars.

Mr Popoola was cleared of attempting to hijack the ship, but was found guilty of affray and making a threat to kill, and was sentenced to 31 months in prison in November 2019.

He was released in August 2020 and placed in government-run housing in Bradford under the condition he was not allowed to work or study, and was ordered to report to the immigration office regularly.

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He applied for asylum, but this was rejected in January 2021. He appealed the decision, and was awaiting the outcome when he took his own life.

At his inquest yesterday, the court heard that Mr Popoola had a history of spontaneous self-harm, including cutting himself and drinking floor cleaner.

He told his friend Stephanie Jackson that he ‘sometimes felt like killing himself’, and she said she had found him self-harming in her bathroom.

"He tried to tell me he didn’t have anything to harm himself with, but I found a blade on the side of the bath, and he quickly threw it in the bin,” she said.

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Mr Popoola had been diagnosed with depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms and PTSD in October 2020.

However, a spokesman for the Home Office said: “It was decided that deportation to Nigeria would not be an infringement of his rights on mental grounds.”

Miss Stalker, 34, said he ‘seemed happy’ most of the time, and regularly looked after her four children.

On the night of July 25, Mr Popoola had a minor argument with Miss Stalker and became despondent.

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She said: “He got up and went to the kitchen, put his head in his hands and started crying. That’s when I went upstairs to bed, and I didn’t come back downstairs after that.”

She found him the following morning on a staircase leading to the cellar. She called 999, and Mr Popoola was pronounced dead at the scene.

Handing down a conclusion of suicide, coroner Alan Wilson said: “(Mr Popoola) had reported suffering from depression. He’s reported to have made some comments that could have indicated the possiblity of self harm. They included some bizarre and spontaneous behaviour on occasions.

"We have heard reference to the ingestion of Flash… we have also heard evidence from a girl he spent time with, Stephanie Jackson, which indicated self harm.

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"But overall I accept that in the months that Miss Stalker has been with him, these events are not indicative of someone with long-standing issues with regards to mental health.”

He added: “Mr Popoola and Miss Stalker had argued the night before he died… he has been upset about it and has left her room and gone into the kitchen, and she has decided to sleep in her son’s bedroom overnight. There was nothing in any way to suggest he would take the actions he took that night.

"In terms of whether this was a man who intended to end his own life… it seems to me that the test is satisfied. It is not for the court to make any findings as to why he intended to do that. We see evidence of previous actions that he might act in an impulsive manner, particularly when upset.

"We know he has his own ongoing issues regarding his deportation. It seems to me that this is an ongoing issue.

"There was no way his girlfriend at the time could have predicted the actions he was going to take.”

The Samaritans helpline can be reached 24/7 on 116 123.

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