His bed is a collection of dirt-ingrained sheets, albeit laid out neatly, on the bare earth underneath a footbridge just 10 minutes from the centre of Leeds.

It looks like a human nest, the bedding covered with a heavier outer blanket and camouflaged with brown vines and leaves ripped from the surrounding foliage.

The 26-year-old is constantly woken by the fear of being attacked or simply by a pedestrian's footsteps reverberating above his head.
He said: "I cannot sleep properly. I maybe get one or two hours a night. Sometimes three.

"I'm just on my own so I'm always worried about being attacked.
"In the middle I can feel the rats running over my sheets and it wakes me up."

A Kurdish Iranian, Ozgan is one of 273 'unreturnables' in Leeds which a report out on Thursday said were being failed by the Government in terms of support.

The 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act introduced a policy of establishing dispersal 'centres' for asylum seekers in areas outside London and the south east.

This included Leeds which now has one of highest numbers of asylum seekers. Ozgan's bid for asylum failed in 2007 and he remains barred from claiming the £35-a-week he was once entitled to.

But the British government has not sent him back to Iran as relations with the country have broken down.

While he waits for a new solicitor to start a fresh asylum bid he is not allowed to work or claim benefits which has forced him into becoming homeless.

His asylum claim was based around the fact he would face certain death if he returned to Iran.

In 2003 his mother, Asmar, was murdered by her own brother for converting from Islam to Christianity to marry his father, Isa, a Turkish Christian.

Isa, according to his son, was also murdered 24 years ago because of his religion.

It was after his mother's death that Ozgan, a Christian, fled to the UK.
He said: "When I look at myself, sleeping rough, parents killed, I think maybe I did something wrong, that's why I'm destitute."

His doctor didn't believe he was sleeping rough due to his smart appearance.

Ozgan shaves every day and makes sure his clothes are clean, using facilities at the city's NFA (No Fixed Abode) hostel.

A short walk out of the city centre across two steel footbridges might have convinced the medic.

After a scramble through brambles and stinging nettles you come across Ozgan's pitiful abode. He is a proud man so, like his appearance, the sleeping quarters have a sense of order.

But above his pillow are scores of empty packets of Seroquel, an anti-psychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia.

In his darkest moments Ozgan has taken several overdoses.
HIs salvation has been the Chapeltown-based charity, PARFAS (Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers).

Through founder Christine Majid and her workers, Ozgan has found a source of security and help in the shape of clothes, some money and emotional support.

The group behind the report, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, has called for the government to change the law so that failed asylum seekers are given support until it is safe for them to return. Their plea has fallen on deaf ears.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "Throughout their time in Britain people are treated with respect and compassion, and reintegration assistance is available upon their return home."

For Ozgan the words are of cold comfort. Tonight he will return to his bed under the bridge living in the hope that someone will end his cruel predicament.

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