Deportation fears: Nigerian attempts suicide in UK

A Nigerian asylum seeker, who is married to a British man, is fighting for her life in hospital after an overdose medication 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. However, despite her marriage her application was rejected.

Mr. Brown, 34, said UK Border Agency officials believe their marriage to be a ‘sham’ with no ’emotional attachment,’ and that his wife was also so distressed at the prospect of returning to Nigeria she took an overdose of medication.

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 intensive care.

Before taking the overdose, 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.”

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