AN investigation has been launched into the death of a much-loved Stourbridge man who has died after being held at a detention centre in Florida.

Ben Owen, aged 39, was pronounced dead on Saturday (January 25) after he was found unresponsive in a cell while in the custody of US Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) at the Baker County Detention Center in Macclenny, Florida.

Mr Owen had entered the United States on a visitor visa on July 23 and was authorised to stay in the US until December 10, 2019.

But according to US officials he was arrested on November 17 by the Daytona Beach Police Department and was awaiting trial on a pending domestic battery charge.

Then on January 12 he was reportedly arrested by the Port Orange Police Department for felony aggravated stalking after injunction, felony false imprisonment, domestic assault, and violating the conditions of his pre-trial release.

He was taken into ICE custody on January 15 following his release from Volusia County criminal custody and was awaiting deportation proceedings.

But he was found unresponsive in his cell at the ICE facility on the evening of January 25. Efforts by staff at the facility and emergency personnel to try to revive him were unsuccessful.

The preliminary cause of death has been given as self-inflicted strangulation, but the case is currently under investigation. A spokesman for ICE said: "Consistent with the agency’s protocols, the appropriate agencies have been notified about the death, including the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility. Additionally, ICE has notified the UK consulate and Mr Owen’s next of kin.

"ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases.

"Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a fraction of the national average for the US detained population."

Friends and relatives of Mr Owen, whose older brother Sam died of pneumonia aged just 26 in 2005, have been left devastated by the death of Ben, and an online fundraising page has been set up to raise around £4,000 to help bring his body home.

According to his Facebook page - Ben had been living in the US having got married in January 2019 to Tammy Jane, whose social media account describes her as a New Yorker living in Tennessee. The pair are believed to have a young daughter.

A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said it was supporting Mr Owen's wife but could not give any further details.