A FORMER G4S employee at Brook House immigration detention centre denied today that he had attempted to throttle a detainee, telling an inquiry that he believed his actions had saved the man’s life.

Yan Paschali, a former staff member at the detention centre in the grounds of Gatwick airport, featured heavily in a 2017 BBC Panorama programme that uncovered mistreatment of detainees there. 

The programme showed shocking undercover footage of Mr Paschali appearing to strangle a detainee while leaning down and whispering: “Don’t fucking move, you fucking piece of shit. I’m going to put you to sleep.”

The detainee suffered from severe mental health problems and was suicidal. 

Giving evidence today to the Brook House inquiry, launched in 2019 to investigate the alleged abuse uncovered by the BBC, Mr Paschali claimed to have believed that the detainee had a battery or razor in his mouth. 

He said that he had put his hands on the detainee’s neck to stop him swallowing the object, adding: “I believe I did stop him from swallowing it and I believe I saved his life.”

Mr Paschali said that he had used the threatening language as a “shock tactic” to stop the detainee from continuing his actions and “gain compliance.”

The ex-G4S employee, who worked at Brook House for just over a year and is also a former prison officer, said that he now regretted the language he used. 

The inquiry heard earlier in the week that the detainee in question had believed that Mr Paschali was going to kill him and that he still suffers mental health problems as a result of the incident. 

Panorama undercover reporter Callum Tulley said that he could see the detainee gasping for breath during the incident. 

Mr Paschali told the inquiry that Brook House was a “horrible” place to work, describing the environment as “hostile, dangerous and aggressive.”

He said that it was “normal” for detainees to swear at staff and for them to swear back. 

“Everybody knew what the culture was like, no-one challenged it, no-one did [anything].”

Employees were not equipped to deal with detainees with mental health problems, he added. 

He said that he “hated” using force, but he accused the inquiry of believing that he did it for “fun.” 

Mr Paschali complained: “I don’t believe for a second that any of you are going to trust or believe me with what I say today because you’ve all made up your minds already.”

This prompted inquiry chairwoman Kate Eves to assure him that she approached all the evidence given to the inquiry with a “neutral mind.”