A YOUNG asylum seeker is fighting for her life after trying to kill herself days before she was due to be deported.

May Brown, who fled her home country in 2009 and now lives in Weymouth with her British husband, feared she would be murdered if she was sent back to Nigeria.

She was discovered lying on the bathroom floor of her in-laws’ home yesterday morning after taking an overdose and trying to suffocate herself.

The teenager was rushed to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester where she remains in a critical condition.

She left a note addressed to her husband Michael saying she ‘couldn’t live without him’.

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the day they met.

Her mother-in-law Helen-Claire Brown told of the horrifying moment she discovered May unconscious on the floor.

She said: “She has to report to the police station every Monday and genuinely feared she would be detained today if she went.

“She came to our house and was in a terrible state. She went to the bathroom and after a while I worried something was wrong.

“There was no response so I broke the door down. She was lying there and I thought she was dead.

“We did CPR and called the ambulance. The paramedics were brilliant and she was taken to hospital and straight to intensive care.

“Michael was at work and he is in a terrible state.

“They are genuinely in love.

“Anyone who knows them can see that. She is a part of our family and the way the Immigration Service has treated her is so, so wrong and heartless.

“She is genuine and no one will believe anything we say.

“She came here on a student visa and has applied for asylum because she fears for her life if she goes back.”

May spoke to the Echo at the weekend about her fears of being sent back to Nig-eria.

She had been told she will be put on a flight this Thurs-day after officials allegedly told the couple they had ‘no emotional attachment’ and the marriage was a sham.

But the 19-year-old Weymouth College student says she and her husband are very much in love and trying to build a life together.

Mrs Brown said she was arrested the day before her wedding in December and detained for several hours before she claims officials said they had ‘made a mistake.’ But she was told last Monday that she could not stay in the country any longer.

Mrs Brown said: “If they send me back to Nigeria they are signing my death warrant.

“They will cut my life short because I will be killed.”

Mrs Brown says she saw her father murdered and was subject to sexual abuse until she was able to leave Nigeria and claim asylum in the UK.

She fears that if she is sent back her abusers will kill her because she witnessed her father’s killing.

Her husband, a former soldier who now works for a removals company said May’s deportation will destroy his life.

May met Michael in Dusk nightclub on The Esplanade in Weymouth last year.

They were married at Bennett’s Water Gardens in front of 50 guests in December.

Since living in Weymouth, May has become a British Red Cross volunteer and was a Games Maker at last year’s Olympic sailing events.

May added: “I have found peace with Michael, he gave me a reason to live.

“I have got a family here.

“We don’t claim any benefits.

“Michael works and I am studying to become a barrister.

“We have not harmed anybody.

“If they send me back to Nigeria they are signing my death warrant.

“They will cut my life short because I will be killed.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We cannot comment in detail on this case while legal proceedings are ongoing.

“In cases where people are found to have no right to remain in the UK they should leave voluntarily or face removal.”

 

May's husband Michael asked us to publish extracts of the note she left to highlight he despair she felt.

"My Dearest loving husband Mikey,

"I am deeply sorry that I had to go this way, without even saying goodbye. The UK immigration has finally driven me insane. They've pushed me too far this time and I can't take the pain any more.

"I want you to always remember that I've loved you right from day one. It was magical-love at first sight.

"The day I became your wife was the happiest day of my life.

"I don't want a life or a future you won't be part of. I love you so much; more than life itself and can't endure the agony of not being with you.

"You are my life, my everything, my whole world and I can't live without you.

"Please forgive me for ending it this way. It's better to die with my dignity than be subjected to torture and undignified death back in Nigeria.

"Please take care and be strong.

"I love you loads and loads.
May"