Homeless immigrant has legs amputated

Deric Henderson

She had been sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures when an ambulance crew rushed her to hospital to be treated for hypothermia, shocked medical staff disclosed.

Later the victim, aged 23 from the Ukraine, underwent a critical emergency operation at the City Hospital in Belfast. One source said: "She is so utterly shellshocked that she's completely closed down."

East Derry DUP MP Gregory Campbell has demanded a full inquiry.

Patrick Yu, director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, claimed fear and isolation would compound her agony. "This woman would have no family or local community to fall back on.

"Eastern European countries don't have any support networks of their own in Northern Ireland."

Interpreters are communicating with the depressed and withdrawn woman in an attempt to find out more about her harrowing ordeal.

She was picked up in Coleraine, Co Derry, on New Year's Day a week after losing contact with Polish friends.

A police probe was also ordered to check any possible exploitation of foreign workers by criminals.

Specialists have been shielding her as she tries to come to terms with the double amputation, but yesterday detectives received clearance to interview her.

It is understood she had been living in the open air close to vacant houses since being laid off by a meat processing firm just before Christmas. Only once the conditions became unbearable did she seek help from other immigrants.

They immediately called for medical help and she was taken to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine before being transferred to hospital in Belfast.

Thousands of migrant workers from across Europe and Africa have moved to the North in search of work. Many have secured low-paid jobs in the food manufacturing industry.