Illegal immigrants are being kept in inadequate holding rooms at Heathrow and subjected to "dehumanising" treatment, the prisons watchdog says.

Prisons chief inspector Anne Owners said her teams had watched as a detainee was told he did not need lost shoes in the hot country he was being sent to, while another suffered an offensive confrontation with staff.

Inspectors toured the holding rooms on an spot check in October after finding shortcomings during their last visit two years earlier.

Heathrow's four terminals have rooms to temporarily hold suspected illegal immigrants spotted entering the country.

Another set of rooms is used for people put on flights out of Britain.

Of the hundreds of people passing through the units each month with most held for a few hours. Some detainees have been held for more than 24 hours.

Ms Owers said there had been some "limited improvements" since the last visit.

She said inspectors had seen staff using "dehumanising" language, including calling detainees "bodies" in "pens", while children and women were being held in the same rooms as men they did not know.

Border and Immigration Agency chief executive Lin Homer said the facilities had been improved since the inspection and further staff training introduced.

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