Jimmy Thoronka who was found sleeping rough a year after competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has been granted leave to remain.
The Sierra Leonean sprinter who absconded from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and was found sleeping rough on the streets of London has been granted leave to remain in the UK after a long legal battle.
The Home Office had attempted to deport Thoronka but a court ruled in his favour last month.In a psychiatric report, Thoronka was said to be in a chronic traumatised state exacerbated by the lengthy legal process and having discovered that Ebola had killed his mother and four siblings since he left his home country.
Thoronka, who ran in the 4x100m relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, had been homeless for about five months when the Guardian journalist Diane Taylor first met him living in Burgess Park, Southwark. He had survived by begging or carrying people’s heavy shopping in exchange for money. Thoronka washed himself and his few clothes in public toilets.
Thoronka’s mother, a nurse who adopted him when he was five, contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients at a police-run hospital in Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital. She died, as did three of Thoronka’s sisters, a brother and members of his extended family.
In March 2015, police investigating drug dealing and burglary stopped and searched Thoronka without explanation after spotting him running in Burgess Park. He was identified as an overstayer and arrested.
On the advice of his lawyer, he applied for leave to remain rather than asylum. As a result he was released from Home Office accommodation, shortly after which he moved in with Taylor and her partner, Simon Hattenstone, also a Guardian journalist.
Thoronka was offered a sports scholarship by the University of East London (UEL) but the Home Office rejected his application to stay in the UK as “clearly unfounded”, despite a consultant psychiatrist assessing him as being in a “chronic traumatised state” and suffering from night terrors and PTSD as a result of his bereavement.
In 2015, Thoronka ran in the LUCA Indoor Championships, clocking the fastest time across 60m in 7.01. Jimmy also competed in the Outdoor Series as a guest.
In May last year, a judge ruled in Thoronka’s favour. The Home Office appealed and in February a second court hearing took place. In April this year, three years after his first application to the Home Office, he was granted leave to remain.
He is now hoping to start a degree in computer studies in September at UEL, where he currently volunteers.
Additional Reporting: Haroon Siddique, The Guardian.
