Sierra Leone 's top sprinter , who went missing after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last summer , has been arrested after he was found living rough on the streets of London . Jimmy Thoronka , 20 , disappeared at the end of the Games and failed to return to the Ebola-hit west African country . The Guardian said it had interviewed him before he was detained for overstaying his visa and that he was held at 7pm yesterday while in an emaciated state . Jimmy Thoronka carrying the Commonwealth baton in Sierra Leone . He has been arrested for overstaying his visa and claims all his immediate family are dead from Ebola so he can not return home . When Thoronka , the country 's number one 100m sprinter , left Sierra Leone for Glasgow , some Ebola cases had been confirmed in a few of the villages surrounding Freetown , but the epidemic had not yet taken hold of the capital . The death toll in the country is now more than 3,500 cases . The runner said : ' I was hoping to win a medal for my country . But during the Games I got the terrible news that my uncle had died , probably from Ebola . ' I could n't stop crying . It was difficult to continue with competing but I tried to carry on . ' He is not working illegally , nor claiming benefits or housing , and understands the legal implications of remaining in the UK after his visa has expired , but said his situation is hopeless . After the Games , he stayed for a while with friends in Leicester - and found out that his entire immediate family had been killed by Ebola . Later he went to London and began sleeping in parks and on night buses and begging for £1 from passers-by to buy chips . Hampden Park in Glasgow was the venue for the track and field events during the Commonwealth Games . 'Some days I get no food at all . I wash in public toilets and sleep in the park , ' he said . ' I wake up around 4am and if I 've got a bus pass I get on the night bus and sleep there until morning . ' I met a man who sometimes lets me sleep at his house but I have to wait outside for him to come home at 10 or 11pm and I get very cold . 'We have a cold season in Sierra Leone but it is not cold like England . Some days I do n't think I 'm going to make it and just feel like killing myself . 'My dream is to become one of the best sprinters in the world but I do n't see how that can happen now . ' The newspaper said hundreds of people have been in touch to offer support , and a petition has been set up on change.org to support him . A GoFundMe page set up in his name only yesterday has received more than 700 donations totalling nearly £13,000 . A Home Office spokeswoman said : 'We can not comment on individual cases , but there is assistance available for people to return home when they are not entitled to remain in the UK . '
Jimmy Thoronka does not want to return to his Ebola-hit west African homeland as his entire immediate family has succumbed to the disease . Was detained yesterday by police who found him in an emaciated state . 20-year-old 's dream to be the best sprinter in the world lies in tatters . But 700 people have donated £13,000 on GoFundMe to help him out .