A convicted murderer from Albania was among those sent to the overcrowded Manston processing centre in the past month, KentOnline can reveal.

Mariglen Shoshari, 31, arrived in Kent in October after the small boat he was crossing the Channel in was intercepted by the authorities.

He was brought ashore and taken to the former Ministry of Defence site in Thanet which has been turned into an asylum seeker processing centre.

The Manston facility has come under the spotlight as it has emerged 3,500 people are being detained there for weeks - although it is intended to hold 1,600 for just days.

A note thrown over the perimeter fence by a young girl yesterday suggested 50 families had been held there for more than 30 days.

Among the thousands being detained was Shoshari, who was asked to fill in a questionnaire form given to new arrivals.

On it Shoshari, of no fixed address, told authorities he'd been convicted of murder and firearm offences in Greece in 2012 and had been given a 18-and-a-half year sentence.

As a result of what he admitted on the questionnaire, immigration authorities charged him with arriving in the UK without valid entry clearance.

After more than three weeks in immigration detention, Shoshari appeared at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to the offence.

Julie Farbrace prosecuting, told magistrates Shoshari had arrived on the small vessel on October 10 with others and was taken to Manston for processing.

She added: "He was brought to shore and it was confirmed he was an Albanian national.

"At Manston he was asked to fill in an asylum questionnaire where he confirmed he's been arrested in Greece and charged with murder and firearm offences.

"He said he'd been sentenced to 18-and-a-half years, but served eight years and seven months.

"He has no UK convictions and no immigration history in this country. He was not the pilot and there were others in the boat."

Chairman of the bench, Mark Tucker asked the prosecutor why others on the same boat had not been charged with the same offence of entering the UK illegally.

Ms Farbrace replied: "Everyone on the boat could be charged with the offence, but it doesn't happen at the moment. But it could happen in the future."

The court also heard Shoshari applied for asylum in this country on October 12 and that his application would continue.

Ms Wright defending, added: "He's been open and honest with the authorities to his detriment.

"While at Manston he applied for asylum on October 12 and that will continue.

"He apologises to the court. He's been in immigration detention for 23 days."

Magistrates decided to jail Shoshari for 60 days for the offence and ordered he pay a victim surcharge of £154 after his release.

This week hundreds of people have been moved out of the Manston facility following concerns it had become dangerously overcrowded.

The site, located at a former Ministry of Defence fire training centre, opened in January.

The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has warned tensions within the facility are rising.

In a statement this week, it said: "A POA member working at the site likened the situation to a pressure cooker coming to the boil with a jammed release valve. She described the ability to move people on from the site in a timely manner as that pressure release valve.

"We have had reports of incidents escalating, altercations between residents boiling over and resulting in injury with police having to be called to the site to investigate assaults and provide support to staff."