The former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and the Bishop of Croydon, Jonathan Clark, have added their names to a letter urging Priti Patel to reconsider the deportation of a 22-year-old autistic man to Jamaica.

They are among 100 people to have signed an open letter to the Home Secretary warning that the deportation of Osime Brown "would be a grotesque indictment of our justice system". 

Brown, from Dudley, left Jamaica at the age of four.  In 2018, he was convicted in relation to the robbery of a mobile phone by a group of teenagers, a crime he denies committing.

He was released from prison in October this year but under UK law, foreign nationals sentenced to more than a year in prison face automatic deportation.

The letter says that Osime is a "vulnerable young autistic and intellectually disabled man" who faces "extreme" danger if he is returned to Jamaica.

"As people who care about human rights, we believe that the de facto reintroduction of penal transportation for relatively minor offences is profoundly disturbing – as is the failure of this country to take responsibility for someone who has lived here since he was four years old," it reads.

"There is no evidence that Osime Brown is a threat to anyone in the UK. By contrast, the danger that he faces is extreme. His mental and physical health have deteriorated dramatically during his imprisonment.

"With his high support needs and vulnerability to exploitation, his family fear that he will not survive on his own in Jamaica and that the planned deportation thereby amounts to a death sentence."

The letter goes on to say that Brown should have the chance to rebuild his life in the UK "in peace and security, surrounded by people who love him".

"It would be a grotesque indictment of our justice system if the life of a young black disabled person should weigh less than a stolen phone," it says.

"This tragedy is unfolding in real time – on our watch – but it need not happen."

Other signatories to the letter include the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, Amnesty International UK's director, Kate Allen, the playwright Stephen Poliakoff.

Brown's mother, Joan Martin, told the Jamaican Gleaner that Brown has no relatives remaining in Jamaica as they have all emigrated abroad.

"He even asked 'what bus can I take to visit you from Jamaica?'," she told the newspaper. 

"He couldn't survive there alone. He couldn't cope."

Over 300,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org against his deportation.