Scotland's highest court has ruled that a Home Office housing provider does have the right to repossess properties occupied by people whose claims for asylum have been refused.

Campaigners protested against plans by private firm Serco last year to change the locks on the homes of 240 failed asylum seekers in Glasgow.

Two women - a Kurdish Iraqi national and a Kurdish Iranian - launched a legal challenge against Serco and the Home Secretary, arguing their eviction would be unlawful without a court order

The Inner House of the Court of Session has now ruled that the company was acting within the law, backing up a previous ruling from the Outer House.

The Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) said it was "bitterly disappointed" with the decision, which means the evictions can now be carried out.

Sabir Zazai from the SRC said: "This galling verdict leaves hundreds of men and women in Glasgow at risk of lock-change evictions and immediate street homelessness.

"People are very anxious and very stressed."

Serco said it would now begin the process of evicting those who had been refused the right to remain in the UK.

Julia Rogers from the firm said: "For some 18 months we have been supporting people whose asylum claims have failed, providing free accommodation and utilities.

"We have listened to the public concerns that the process to take back the properties they were living in might be unfair or illegal, but we now have clear judgements from Scotland's highest court that our approach is completely proper and within the law.

"During this time Serco has been demonised and subject to extreme criticism, and the fact that we have spent millions of pounds supporting people who no longer have a right to remain in the UK and providing them with free accommodation, has been widely ignored.

" We have been told we are single-handedly responsible for creating a housing crisis, but the fact is that over recent months the number of people affected by this judgement has halved and now stands at around 150 and there has been no reported increase in housing issues in Glasgow as a result.

"We will be working with the authorities and the Sheriffs Court in Glasgow to ensure an orderly sensitive application of the law.

"Subject to the interdicts issued by the Sheriffs Court, Serco would not seek to remove more than 20 people in any one week from their properties, so it will take us several months at least to finally hand back all properties to their owners."