AN ASYLUM seeker was killed after he became trapped in faulty plant machinery, an inquest has heard.

Amin Qabil, from Afghanistan, who had been living in the UK illegally after 'going on the run' from the Home Office, the jury was told.

But Mr Qabil had been working and sleeping in an industrial unit in Blackburn, the inquest heard.

Although boss of Blackburn Skip Hire Mohammed Zarif denied Mr Qabil was his employee and said he had only done ‘odd jobs’ for him without receiving payment.

Mr Qabil, 25 was found dead at the firm’s site, unit 3, Lower Hollins Lane, Blackburn, in August last year.

A jury at Blackburn Town Hall was told he was found covered in blood with severe head injuries in a Bell shovel loader at just after midnight by his company manager and friend, Mohammed Zarif.

The emergency services were alerted and found Mr Mohammed in an extremely 'distressed state' and Mr Qabil was pronounced dead at the scene.

The court heard that it was likely that Mr Qabil had died a number of hours before being found by the two men.

Dr Aslam, a pathologist at the East Lancashire NHS Trust, said that Mr Qabil had a large split on his scalp, multiple complex fractures and haemorrhaging on his brain.

He said: “He was alive at the time of the accident because a respiratory examination shows that he had inhaled some of his own blood. The fractures to the skull were consistent with a heavy load hitting his head.”

But during the inquest Mr Mohammed admitted that Mr Qabil had been sleeping on a mattress above the toilet area in the unit for a number of weeks.

Matt Greenly, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive said that an engine fault in the vehicle meant the machine continued to operate without any assistance.

He told the inquest the machinery had a vital safety bar missing from the cab area which could have protected Mr Qabil and it also had a number of other major faults which could have contributed to the accident.

(proceeding)