Victim’s suicide kit as deportation loomed
A VICTIM of the Windrush scandal described yesterday how he prepared a suicide kit after being told he was to be deported to Jamaica.
Nick Broderick, 63, decided it would be better to end his life with ‘dignity’ than be sent to a country he had last seen as a toddler.
The administrative fiasco meant he was stopped from working 14 months ago yet has been unable to claim benefits.
He is also forbidden from accessing health care on the NHS, his bank account was closed and he cannot get legal aid to help him fight his case.
His humiliation included having to sign on at a police station near his home in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, every month to prove he had not absconded.
Mr Broderick, who came to the UK when he was three, said: ‘I’ve had a National Insurance number since I was 15, I’ve paid taxes all my life and I’ve put two children through university.
‘I love this country. I always support England in every sport and my brother’s served in the Army. I’ve never been in trouble with the police but I’ve been treated like a criminal.’
Mr Broderick’s family came to the UK when his parents divorced and his mother decided to follow one of her daughters, a matron in a London hospital who said work and good schools were available.
His Kafkaesque nightmare began in 2014, when immigration officials visited the recruitment firm where he had worked for 18 years as a minibus driver to check for illegal workers. He was asked to provide proof of his citizenship but, having never been abroad, did not have a passport.
Four attempts to request a copy of his birth certificate from Jamaica failed because the applications went missing.
The Home Office eventually gave him paperwork to complete to apply for indefinite leave to remain but that was lost by UK officials, despite records showing the documents had been delivered.
The married father-of-three’s low point came when he learned he was facing deportation.
A ray of hope was offered in November when another letter from the Home Office said Mr Broderick could apply for 30-month limited leave to remain.
But he is still unable to earn a living, forcing him and his wife, Tina, 57, to live off her modest income as a doctor’s receptionist.
Mr Broderick added: ‘I would never have expected this from the UK. It’s the most tolerant country in the world. Let’s hope they learn from their mistakes.’