IMMIGRATION officials are looking at new evidence in the case of asylum-seeker Tayyip Oruc, who fears he will be killed if he is deported back to Turkey.

The Kurdish man, who lives in Yarm, near Stockton, said he would be imprisoned immediately and could expect severe beatings for double-crossing the military police in his home village.

He fled to England in the back of a lorry five years ago after agreeing to help the police catch members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in a set-up, having agreed to the deal under torture.

His applications for asylum and subsequent appeal have been rejected but on Sunday, a meeting with the immigration service offered hope to the 30-year-old.

Mr Oruc was joined by Pete Widlinski, of the North-East Refugee Service.

Mr Widlinski said: "He was extremely relieved that nothing is going to happen right away but they did not give him any idea of the timescale before he hears anything further.

"We have got a bit of breathing space and his solicitors had submitted evidence about human rights abuses in Turkey against failed asylum-seekers who have been returned."

The immigration service could either dismiss the evidence, grant him asylum or postpone any planned deportation until further investigations are made.

Mr Widlinski said: "The thing that worries me is that immigration are increasingly turning up in the middle of the night and giving failed claimants ten minutes to pack their bags before whisking them off to detention centres a few days before deporting them."

"It is because they are worried that people will just do a flit and disappear, but there is no chance Tayyip would do that, because he would not want to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder."