Asylum seeker shot dead in Glasgow after he stabbed six people ‘made 72 phone calls before attack’

An asylum seeker who stabbed six people in a Glasgow hotel before he was shot dead by police had made 72 phone calls leading up to the attack

Badreddin Abadlla Adam, 28, was one of hundreds of asylum seekers moved into hotels in Glasgow at the start of lockdown.

It is understood he had contacted the Home Office, the housing and social care provider Mears, and the charity Migrant Help repeatedly about his health and accommodation.

An internal Home Office evaluation said has cautioned that his calls “should have acted as a warning”.

Badreddin Abadlla Adam made dozens of calls in the weeks prior to his knife rampage. Pic: Police Scotland

The Scottish Refugee Council said the Home Office’s decision to continue to house refugees in hotels after the incident showed that it had not learned any lessons from the Glasgow tragedy.

It also found Adam had complained to staff in the hotel and was in touch with the Home Office about an assisted voluntary return to his home country.

The review is said to have made various recommendations, including developing a system to identify patterns of contact which may cause concern, and ensuring hotel staff are given “mental health awareness and de-escalation training.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office said “significant” changes have now been made.

On June 26 2020, Adam stabbed six people in the Park Inn hotel in Glasgow, including three other asylum seekers, police constable David Whyte and two members of hotel staff before he was fatally shot.

Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, said: “This report speaks to issues we knew were present all along in regards to a lack of preparation and communication around the move into hotels, and that hotel staff had to fulfil responsibilities they should never have been faced with. These circumstances must be confined to the past. Hotel staff should not have to be trained to support people with complex mental health needs. The fact is, hotel staff cannot be should not have been expected to act as specialist mental health practitioners here.

“We are deeply worried that this report shows that the Home Office has not learned any real lessons from this tragedy.”

He added: “Reports that Badreddin Abadlla Adam made over 70 calls for help while he was in hotel accommodation are extremely worrying. We need answers as to why these calls were not met with swifter support.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Due to the pandemic the Home Office had to use an unprecedented number of hotels for asylum seekers, including in Glasgow.

“The use of hotels is unacceptable and we are working hard to find appropriate accommodation for asylum seekers but local authorities must do all they can to help house people permanently.

“Since this horrific incident we have undertaken a number of significant changes to keep asylum seekers safe, including how we, our contractors and charities spot vulnerable individuals and provide them with wraparound support and appropriate accommodation.

“The Home Office has completed the majority of recommendations in the review which found that hotels in Glasgow were of a good standard, clean and well-maintained.

“Our New Plan for Immigration, which is going through Parliament now, will fix the broken asylum system, enabling us to grant protection to those entitled to it and to remove those with no right to be here more quickly.”

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