Three members of Windrush generation wrongly deported have died

Three members of the Windrush generation who were wrongly deported to the Caribbean have died, the Jamaican foreign minister has said.

Jamaican authorities revealed the three had died before officials were able to contact them to help them to return the UK.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the revelation should “shame” the Government and called on the Prime Minister to personally apologise to the affected families.

Kamina Johnson-Smith, the Jamaican foreign minister, described the situation as “unfortunate”.

Ms Johnson-Smith told The Guardian: “We have just received the information that they are dead. We have to find the families.

“There are no mobile numbers on the national registry. You might end up in a community, asking if people know the people who live beside them. It can be quite painstaking. Our team is on it every day.”

“People’s lives have been impacted in a serious way. Families have been impacted and that is a terrible thing.”

Jamaican residents had felt “a mix of hurt and anger” when the scandal emerged, she said.

The Government’s response to the crisis had “certainly improved”, Ms Johnson-Smith said, and it had not destabilised Jamaica-UK relations.

She added: “We have maintained a collaborative approach. So far so good.

“We are trying to play our part in ensuring that rights are restored where they have been taken away and a sense of justice is felt by persons who have been affected, and that this is all done in a timely way.

“We want to be sure as best as possible that something like this does not happen again.”

Ms Abbott blamed the “hostile environment policy” for the scandal, she said: “The deaths of these British citizens in Jamaica shame this Government and the Prime Minister, who is the architect of the hostile environment policy that saw these British citizens sent to Jamaica.

“Our fellow citizens dying thousands of miles from their homes, families and friends and our health service is the latest tragic injustice suffered by our fellow citizens as a direct result of the Tories’ hostile environment.

“The Prime Minister must personally apologise to their families and loved ones.”

The Home Office have been contacted for comment.