The transportation of asylum seekers into a controversial holding site at a military barracks has been suspended.

It has been revealed that for the time being no more refugees will be brought into Napier Barracks in Folkestone following months of controversy.

Around 400 men were moved into the barracks last September, despite the Home Office being warned by Public Health England that it was unsuitable.

While all the original arrivals were moved out following a Covid outbreak that saw almost half of them infected, around 200 are thought to be housed there now.

Arrivals have reportedly been suspended after government health officials warned the site could see “reoccurring or enduring” Covid transmission.

The warning came in internal documents revealed in a report by The Guardian today.

This comes three weeks after a court case ruled the Home Office acted unlawfully in accommodating asylum seekers at the camp following a legal challenge by six men who were formerly housed there.

The men, all said to be “survivors of torture and/or human trafficking”, argued the Home Office was unlawfully accommodating people at the barracks and conditions there pose “real and immediate risks to life and of ill-treatment”.

During a two-day hearing in April, the men’s lawyers said that accommodating asylum seekers at the “squalid” barracks was a breach of their human rights and could amount to false imprisonment.

Mr Justice Linden ruled in their favour and found the Home Office acted unlawfully when deciding the former military camp was appropriate.

He said: “Whether on the basis of the issues of Covid or fire safety taken in isolation, or looking at the cumulative effect of the decision making about, and the conditions in, the barracks, I do not accept that the accommodation there ensured a standard of living which was adequate for the health of the claimants.

“Insofar as the defendant considered that the accommodation was adequate for their needs, that view was irrational.”

"We make no apology for providing people a secure place to stay"

A Home Office spokeswoman said that the site remains in use and had made "significant improvements" to accommodation.

She said: “During the height of an unprecedented health pandemic, to ensure asylum seekers were not left destitute, additional accommodation was required at extremely short notice.

"We make no apology for providing people a secure place to stay.

“The judgment rejected the claim that conditions at Napier amounted to inhumane or degrading treatment.

“At all times during the pandemic we believed we took reasonable steps to give effect to the advice from the health authorities. Significant improvements have been made to the site, including improved accommodation and more outdoor and recreational activities."

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