Winchester family's deportation fears

3:00pm Thursday 23rd August 2007

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A WINCHESTER doctor and her husband say they are "disgusted" by the way the immigration service has treated her sick Nigerian mother, who faces deportation.

Earlier this month, Roseline Ogbe, 63, was arrested and served deportation papers when she reported to Winchester police station, as she is required to do each week.

She came to the UK seven years ago to flee persecution in Nigeria, and has been living with Rupert and Sheyi Pemsel since they moved to the city last year.

After her arrest, Ms Ogbe was taken to Yarls Wood detention centre near Bedford, and solicitors working on behalf of Mr and Dr Pemsel are now fighting her deportation through a judicial review.

On Tuesday, Ms Ogbe was granted bail to return to Winchester. The family is now waiting for a date for the judicial review.

Before moving in with her family she was in a psychiatric unit near Newcastle, as she suffers mental health problems.

She is totally dependent on the couple financially and emotionally.

Dr Pemsel said she was detained in spite of her mother's psychiatrist's protests.

Ms Ogbe has no family other than Mr and Dr Pemsel, who live at Peninsula Barracks off Romsey Road, and her mental state is controlled by medication.

Dr Pemsel, who orginally met her husband in Kent, before the couple studied together at Liverpool University, said: "It's completely horrible.

"The fact is in Africa people don't have sympathy for people with mental issues.

"She's being managed by a psychiatrist, our support and medication. By being with us in a stable environment she's staying safe."

Mr Pemsel, a medicine student at the University of Southampton, said: "Nigeria is somewhere that's hard for people in England to understand.

"It's a place of armed robberies and kidnappings on a daily basis and she's experienced that."

Ms Ogbe has had several claims for asylum dismissed over the years.

Mr Pemsel said Ms Ogbe claimed no benefits from the Government and that, as she was completely dependent on her daughter and son-in-law, she should be entitled to stay.

"She's absolutely distraught about it all. She came over here seeking help and has not been a burden in any way whatsoever to the United Kingdom. She just seems an easy target to the immigration service," Mr Pemsel said.

"My wife and I are disgusted by the immigration service's lack of understanding or care, both in her detention and threatened deportation."

Winchester MP Mark Oaten has taken up the case and written to Liam Byrne MP, Minister for Borders and Immigration.

A spokeswoman for the Border and Immigration Agency, which is part of the Home Office, said it could not comment on individual cases.

But she added: "Part of our consideration when removing someone, is their fitness to travel and whether the necessary medical treatment and support is available in the country to which they are returning.

"It is an important part of ensuring an effective and fair asylum system that those found not to be in need of international protection are removed from the UK.

"We examine with great care each individual case before removal, and we will not remove anyone who we believe is at risk of persecution on their return."