THE Home Office is facing a legal challenge this week over claims that vulnerable women held at a new detention centre in County Durham have been denied in-person legal advice. 

The case, which starts today in the High Court, has been brought by a detainee who struggled to access legal advice while being held at Derwentside immigration removal centre near Consett and the charity Women for Refugee Women. 

The charity says that women at the centre are only able to access legal advice over the phone or by video call due to a shortage of providers of immigration legal aid operating in the north-east of England.