Red front doors marked out asylum-seeker homes to hate gangs in Middlesbrough

Video report by ITV News' Ben Chapman

Asylum seeker homes in England's poorest town have reportedly been targeted by vandals and race hate gangs after being inadvertently "branded" by housing suppliers who had painted their front doors red.

The Home Office has ordered an urgent review into asylum-seeker housing in the north east after it was claimed the doors had been painted in the same colour to mark them out to company employees.

The homes are owned by a subcontractor of services giant G4S, reported The Times. The newspaper said the red paint treatment had introduced "apartheid on the streets of Britain" and was to blame for a series of hate attacks.

Sudanese resident Mohammed Abdal Albashir and housing campaigner Suzanne Fletcher tell ITV News the red doors had left people targeted.

Dog excrement has been smeared on the homes in Middlesbrough, while eggs and stones were thrown at windows and a National Front symbol had been scratched on a front door. Residents said they have faced regular verbal abuse.

The Times said 155 of the 168 Jomast houses it identified in two of Middlesbrough's most deprived areas had red front doors.

Would-be refugees from Syria and eastern Europe said they felt marked out in the local area.

"They put us behind front doors. When people see them, everyone knows it means asylum seekers. It's like saying we're not the same as you," one man whose house was targeted told the newspaper.

Campaigners said they raised the issue with staff from G4S and its subcontractor Jomast and warned them the homes were left increasingly vulnerable to attack.

They also claimed a Home Office official attended "at least two meetings" at which complaints about the doors were raised.

G4S and Jomast recognised "the majority" of its doors were red but strenuously denied the claim the colour was used deliberately, describing claims of discrimination as "grotesque" and "ludicrous".

The Home Office initially said G4S investigated the issue and said there was no policy to put asylum seekers in properties with specifically coloured doors.

But Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has ordered another investigation by government officials.

G4S stressed its asylum accommodation is inspected frequently by the Home Office and has been found to "meet the required standards".

The Times reported Jomast had committed to repainting the doors over the next three to six months.

Jomast managing director Stuart Monk echoed the statement from G4S in rejecting the uniformly painted doors as amounting to discrimination.