Insurers claim £97m for riot at refugee centre
By David Barrett
04 April 2002
Insurers for the private company which runs Yarl's Wood refugee detention centre have hit taxpayers with a £97m bill for February's riots.

A claim for £96,638,000 has been lodged by a Lloyd's syndicate against Bedfordshire Police Authority – more than double the sum it had previously said it would be seeking.

The local MP, Alistair Burt, branded the claim "complete and utter nonsense" and urged the Government to resolve the issue because it was stifling Britain's asylum policy.

Peter May, claims manager for the insurers DJ Pye Syndicate 692, confirmed the £97m sum was being claimed under the Riot Damages Act of 1886.

He said: "The claim has been based on the cost of building it in the first place and working out what part of it is damaged, which is approximately 50 per cent.

"It is a claim for, amongst other things, loss of revenue."

He said the sum was only an estimate because the loss adjusters, Capita McLarens, has been unable to visit the Yarl's Wood site near Bedford. It is still controlled by police as a crime scene.

Mr May added: "The Act does not deal with blame, it deals with statutory responsibility. It should not be confused with pointing the finger at the police as being to blame for the incident. And I've no reason to believe that Group 4, in any way they ran the detention centre, were to blame.

"I think what we are looking at here is an orchestrated riot that probably was used as a means of the detainees escaping from the detention centre."

Mr Burt, Conservative MP for North East Bedfordshire, said: "It's a complete and utter nonsense that a local police force can be held responsible in these circumstances. Our national policy on asylum detention and removals is currently in the hands of an insurance syndicate at Lloyd's."

The chairman of Bedfordshire Police Authority, Adrian Heffernan, said: "Any claim made against the authority under the Riot Damages Act is totally outrageous and will be vigorously resisted."

Loss adjusters have refused to renew insurance cover for Yarl's Wood, forcing the 900-place complex to close temporarily at the weekend.

Ministers will be keen to see new cover negotiated as quickly as possible to avoid the centre being closed for any longer than necessary.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced in the Commons last month that Yarl's Wood would stay open and hold about 150 detainees in its undamaged wing.

Firefighters have said much of the damage caused in the fire and riot on 14 February could have been avoided if water sprinklers had been fitted in the building. A system could have been installed for £350,000.

Up to 25 asylum-seekers are still at large after the mass break-out that followed the riot.