THE director of an asylum charity in Oxford says there are hundreds of refugees despite the Government putting the figure at about 15.

Asylum Welcome directorMatt Holman said the city was full of “living ghosts” who were not officially allowed to stay in England but could not be sent home because it would breach their human rights.

Mr Holman spoke after the Home Office released figures which suggested there were just 15 asylum seekers in Oxford who received official support in 2009, five of whom were housed.

He said there was no real way of knowing how many refugees there were in Oxford, although the figures was more likely to be in the hundreds.

Asylum Welcome, which is based in Cowley Road, supports people who have come to the city from places as far flung as Somalia, Zimbabwe, Iran and Afghanistan.

Mr Holman said: “We see probably about 1,500 people in our offices every year.

“But there isn’t any real way of knowing how many people are here. There’s definitely more than 15 or 20 though.

Many get sucked into the community in places like Cowley, where they are supported by family or friends.

“Oxford isn’t an official dispersal area. There has to be a very special reason for people to be supported in Oxford.”

He added: “There are some countries that you literally can’t send people back to, so what you get is a host of people living on the edges of society, who aren’t being supported in anyway but are not allowed to work or claim anything.”

The charity director said the misconception that asylum seekers were immediately put into supported accommodation and allowed to claim benefits was “scary”.

He said: “People seem to think refugees are handed a load of money, a mobile phone and a Ferrari when they come to England.

“That is a misconception the previous Government seemed to have allowed to run.

“It couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Placide Mobeka, 42, left the Republic of the Congo in 2002.

After living in Coventry and Wigan he came to Oxford three years ago and now lives in East Oxford with his wife and two-month-old daughter.

Mr Mobeka, who has just been given indefinite leave to stay and work in Oxford, said if he had been sent back to the Congo he would have been killed.

He said: “It was a matter of life and death.

“Most of the people who have come to the UK have done it because they’ve said no to the government. “If they go back they will be killed.

“The first time I came to Oxford I felt safe. I’m happy being part of the community here and I’m happy I can officially contribute to society.”