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Asylum seeker found dead next to 'starving baby' after losing her job

Mercy Baguma was found dead inside a Glasgow flat. (GoFundMe)
Mercy Baguma was found dead inside a Glasgow flat. (GoFundMe)

An asylum seeker was found dead next to her starving child earlier this month shortly after she lost her job.

The body of Mercy Baguma, originally from Uganda and in her thirties, was discovered by police in a flat in Govan, Glasgow on 22 August.

She had told friends she was living in extreme poverty and is understood to have lost her job after her “limited leave to remain” expired and she could not work.

Her one-year-old baby was found crying beside her dead body four days after friends last heard from her.

The child is now being cared for by his father, who is understood to be an asylum seeker.

Mercy Baguma was an asylum seeker from Uganda. (SWNS)
Mercy Baguma was an asylum seeker from Uganda. (SWNS)

A week earlier, on 11 August, Baguma had been in touch with charity Positive Action for Housing, to seek help and would have been deemed high priority for support.

She was reportedly relying on the generosity of friends and charities to survive in the weeks leading up to her death.

No cause of death has yet been established.

Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing said: "Mercy contacted our charity on August 11 and said she was not getting any financial support yet had made an application to MigrantHelp.

Read more: Coronavirus: Evictions of asylum seekers paused to stop spread of COVID-19

"Had she lived she would have been a high priority for a crisis payment from our Emergency Relief Fund like hundreds of others left functionally destitute by the asylum system.

“The question remains, why are mothers and babies being left to go hungry in this city, why is it being left to charities and volunteers to pick up the pieces?

“Would this mother be alive if she was not forced out of her job by this cruel system that stops you from working and paying your way because a piece of paper says your leave to remain has expired?

"I’m sure Mercy’s son will want to ask this and other questions once he is old enough.

“People are literally depressed – and the system seems designed to break spirits.

"It’s a matter of when – not if – the next tragedy occurs and this reinforces our resolve for a public inquiry.

"We demand a public inquiry and Mercy’s death to be investigated along side Adnan Walid Elbi and the Park Inn tragedy.

"We call on the Church of Scotland and all of civic society to support our call for an independent public inquiry.”

Her death is the third tragedy to have affected the refugee community in Glasgow in the past four months, the charity added.

Syrian refugee Adnan Walid Elbi, 30, was found dead in his room at the McLays Guest House on Renfrew Street on 6 May.

Then on 26 June, one man was shot dead after stabbing six people including a police officer at the Park Inn hotel.

Yahoo News UK has contacted the Refugee Council, Police Scotland and the Home Office for comment.