A legal challenge by six asylum seekers previously housed at a former army barracks where they claim conditions posed “real and immediate risks to life” is to be heard at the High Court.

Napier Barracks in Folkestone has been used to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers since September last year.

It was continued to be used despite the fact Public Health England had warned the Home Office the accommodation was unsuitable.

Almost 200 people tested positive for coronavirus during an outbreak at the barracks earlier this year, senior Home Office officials told MPs in February.

At an earlier hearing, also in February, the High Court heard asylum seekers at the barracks were left “powerless to protect themselves” against Covid-19 because of the Home Office’s failures to “prevent the spread”.

Lawyers representing the six men, all said to be “survivors of torture and/or human trafficking”, also said there was “a mental health crisis” at the barracks, with four residents having attempted suicide and others having self-harmed.

They argue the Home Office is unlawfully accommodating people at the barracks, where conditions pose “real and immediate risks to life and of ill-treatment”.

A two-day hearing concerning the lawfulness of housing asylum seekers at Napier Barracks is due to begin at the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning.

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