An asylum-seeker claims he was beaten unconscious by security guards while being taken to a Sussex detention centre.

Volunteers who visit detainees at Tinsley House Immigration Removal Centre at Gatwick raised Mohammed Koroma's case as he prepared to be flown back to Sierra Leone today.

The 31-year-old says he suffered blows to the neck and groin after he was loaded into a security escort van at Gatwick Airport.

He said his guards turned off CCTV cameras before they beat him, and racially abused him when he came round back at the detention centre.

His statement, given to a volunteer visitor, was passed to The Argus yesterday at a press conference called by members of the Gatwick Detainee Welfare Group.

The Crawley-based organisation has 80 members who regularly visit detainees at Tinsley House.

They say stories of racism and physical abuse are common among people who have been transported between detention centres around the country.

Group member Elizabeth Storey said: "Our concerns are if he is removed this case will not be followed up.

"There have been numerous other cases of people being verbally and physically assaulted whilst in transit between detention centres and between detention centres and airports."

Mr Koroma came to the UK in 2003 after fleeing Sierra Leone disguised as a woman.

He claimed asylum on the basis that, having supported a losing candidate in the national elections which followed the country's civil war, he faced imprisonment and death at the government's hands.

He has a one-year-old son, who he has not seen since he was detained on February 22.

Speaking by telephone from Tinsley House last night he said: "If I go back, they'll kill me.

"I want to go back to Bradford and see my son."

He is due to be removed from the UK today.

The alleged attack took place after an airline pilot refused to transport him to Sierra Leone on February 26, when security guards attempted to force him onto a flight.

Mr Koroma gave a statement to a police officer from Gatwick following the incident.

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "This allegation was fully investigated and it was concluded that no crime was to be recorded."

Mrs Storey continued: "In this country we find it hard to believe this sort of official assault can continue to go unchallenged."

Fellow volunteer Beryl Payne said: "We're concerned because although Tinsley House has an Independent Monitoring Board it is not their brief to look at what happens to people whilst in transit.

"Our experience has been in the past, when people have been assaulted in this way, that nobody to our knowledge has been disciplined or faced proceedings."

They called for escort contracts to be overseen by Independent Monitoring Boards in the same way as prisons.

Though Tinsley House yesterday said Group 4 Securicor handles the transport of detainees, a spokesman for the firm said it had no record of transporting Mr Koroma.

He said three firms handle detainee transport for Tinsley House, but was unable to provide the names of the other two.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "Every report or allegation of inappropriate treatment amongst detainees is reported to the Detention Services Operational Support Unit.

"An investigation into each allegation will take place.

"Where there is an allegation of assault or inappropriate use of force the case is also reported to the police.

"A comprehensive complaints system is in place at all detention centres and detainees have the provision to raise complaints to the Independent Monitoring Boards who can raise issues on their behalf."