A SRI LANKAN asylum-seeker who fled his homeland to escape a bloody conflict between the government and rebel group the Tamil Tigers has had to wait six years to have his case assessed by the Home Office.

A letter to Inkaramoorthy Sangarapillai, who is living in Edmonton, from the Home Office in 2006, refers to information sent to them in 2001, when Mr Sangarapillai said he began his asylum claim.

Mr Sangarapillai, 46, was known to be in Britain, attempting to seek asylum, but has had to wait until this year to be interviewed by officials and have his case considered.

Mr Sangarapillai, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by an NHS psychiatrist, has spent the last six years in near poverty, only able to survive off a small allowance paid by an immigration organisation based in Oxford, as well as help he has received from his landlord and a local church group.

He said: "I am in a very risky position. I'm waiting to see if it's possible to stay here. I don't know what will happen."

He said medication he had been prescribed had made him more stable and he hoped he would be able to work or get into education.

Without any immigration status, he has not been able to work in Britain up until now. The latest on his case was that he would not be granted asylum and would be appealing the decision.

A Home Office spokeswoman said she could not comment on individual cases but said: "Under the new asylum model all asylum applications are dealt with on a case-by-case basis."

She said the model was only recently implemented and meant a single case worker was assigned to each application for asylum.

Mr Sangarapillai is afraid to return home after converting to Christianity and has no family there who will support him.