A CAMPAIGNER today called for the Home Office to change the way it notified asylum seekers if their application is unsuccessful after the death of a man in Nelson.

Asylum seeker Nassar Ahmed had made two previous attempts on his life because he was terrified of being sent back to Eritrea.

On August 21 his friend Faisal Ballan discovered him in the cellar hanging by a noose made from an orange washing line attached to a metal hook in the ceiling.

An inquest heard an unopened parcel from the Home Office was found behind the door of his home in Railway Street. He had already been refused asylum and had appealed against the decision.

The Rev Sally Thomas, an executive committee member of Building Bridges, an interfaith community project which has outreach support projects for refugees and asylum seekers.

She said many asylum seekers went through solicitors to make their applications and they could be advised to open Home Office correspondence in the presence of their solicitor or a third party, rather than having to deal with the news alone.

She said: "Nassar could not settle, he kept wanting to move and find somewhere else to live.

"Life is on hold when you are an asylum seeker and Nassar could not cope with the long delays for hearings to find out if he could stay.

"Although the letters say you can appeal, the first thing people see in the letter is refused, after they have read refused they don't always read to the end of the letter."

An interpreter translated for Mr Ahmed's friend Faisal Ballan as he confirmed his statement to police before Acting East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor.

Mr Ballan, of Milton Street, Nelson, said he had lived in England for just over a year having left Syria and he was seeking asylum.

He met Mr Ahmed at a solicitor's about a year ago and they had become friends -- he was also seeking asylum but his family were in London.

Mr Ballan said in about May he discovered Mr Ahmed had drunk bleach and was upset about being sent back to Ethiopia because he thought he would be killed. Mr Ballan took his friend to Burnley General Hospital where he was treated. In August he found he had tied a rope in a kitchen but when he tried to hang himself it snapped and he banged his head on the fridge.

He confirmed his friend had been prescribed anti-depressants and told the inquest he had taken him to a psychiatrist.

On August 21 Mr Ballan had been contacted by a man who lived in the same house as Mr Ahmed who said he was missing. When he went to investigate Mr Ballan found his friend in the cellar dead.

The coroner asked Mr Ballan if he had advised Mr Ahmed to wait to see how his appeal got on and he said yes.

PC Aldene Woodward said she was called to the house at 9.05am and confirmed an unopened package from the Home Office was behind the front door.

She said she had been told that he had been recently refused his application for asylum.