By Ben Mitchell

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An Albanian man who died aboard the Bibby Stockholm told staff at a hotel where he was housed before being moved to the barge that he wanted to return to his home country because of his “mental health issues”, an inquest has heard.

Leonard Farruku was found unresponsive in a shower cubicle on board the accommodation vessel at Portland Port, Dorset, on December 12 2023.

An inquest in Bournemouth was told that a post-mortem examination found that the 27-year-old died as a result of compression to the neck and suspension by ligature.

His sisters Marsida Keci and Jola Dushku have questioned how their brother, who they said had struggled with his mental health since the death of their parents, was allowed to be moved to the Bibby Stockholm.

The inquest has heard that Mr Farruku was previously accommodated at the Esplanade Hotel in Paignton, Devon, and began to show aggressive behaviour in July 2023.

Kavya Gowrishanker, who was a housing officer at the hotel at the time, said that several incident reports were about Mr Farruku’s behaviour and concerns for his mental health.

The inquest heard that he had “threatened to kill staff if they do not give him what he needs” and asking staff for “weed”.

After he damaged furniture in his room, Mr Farruku told hotel staff that “God will come to clean his room”, the hearing was told.

Ms Gowrishanker said: “He didn’t seem alright, I have reported that he would be needing mental health support as his behaviour was not normal.

“He has been talking to himself and statement that ‘God will come to clean his room’ and things like that didn’t seem unusual and needing some treatment.”

The hearing was told that on July 29, Mr Farruku told reception staff at the hotel that he “wanted to return to his home country as soon as possible”.

Ms Gowrishanker said that Mr Farruku wanted to go back in five days and threatened violence if no action was taken.

She said an incident form was created but Mr Farruku had turned down an offer for a mental health appointment in the UK and the inquest has heard that he later changed his mind about wanting to return to Albania.

Ms Gowrishanker also said that two member of a first response mental health team did attend the hotel on August 12 but Mr Farruku was “not available” despite knowing they were coming to visit him.

She added that when police officers attended, the staff raised their concerns with them.

She said: “As Leonard was constantly refusing help from the mental health team, we did ask the police if they could refer Leonard to the mental health team.”

Pc Tom Dare, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said that he attended the hotel on July 25, the day after colleagues attended to a confrontation between Mr Farruku and another resident.

He said that as he arrived, he found Mr Farruku “clearly frustrated, swearing, English swearwords, he kicked a bin over, threw something around despite me telling him it wasn’t acceptable.

“I have taken him by the arm outside using my section three powers to clear his head.”

He said that Mr Farruku then came back in a calmer state and he spent an hour talking to him and added: “We were talking about his frustrations, missing his family, wanting to go home, a general chat.”

Pc Dare added that he did not have concerns about Mr Farruku’s mental health on that occasion but had subsequently suggested to hotel staff that they contact mental health services about him.

He said: “From speaking to the staff at the hotel, they might say Leonard was struggling with his mental health but not enough for me to do anything on my policing side of things.”

The inquest continues.