Get Gretel back, now
IT’S outrageous an elderly woman granted legal rights to live indefinitely in the UK is stuck in Jamaica, banned by callous officialdom from returning to her home and family.
her to return to the UK to gather the evidence required by the Home Office to support her claim to be able to return.
Her children have tried to gather the evidence of her residency on her behalf but at every turn, they say, they have been blocked. It took a year for Pauline to get a meeting with a Lambeth council director who promised to help as they hold her housing records but she claims nothing has happened.
After Gretel arrived in the UK, she had eight children and worked in a Lyons syrup factory.
But after struggling with racism and unfamiliar living conditions, it resulted in a breakdown as she was unable to cope.
Some of her children were placed in the notorious Shirley Oaks Children’s Home.
Kids in its supposed care suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse by paedophiles who were legitimately working as house parents for this establishment.
As her children became adults, they reconnected with Gretel.
The Government has apologised to the children of Commonwealth citizens, known as the Windrush Generation - after the name of the first ship bringing them to the UK in 1948 - for the way they have been treated by the Home Office.
Despite being in the UK legally, many have been threatened with deportation, denied access to NHS treatment, benefits and pensions and stripped of their jobs. Hundreds of other have, such as Gretel, been refused entry. Yesterday afternoon a rally was held in support of the Windrush generation and their families in Brixton. Asked about Gretel’s case, a Home Office WELCOME Families from West Indies spokesman last night said: “The Home Secretary has been clear, we don’t want anyone who has contributed so much to our society to feel unwelcome.
“She has apologised for any distress caused and we are urgently reviewing these cases.
“The Windrush helpline is open to individuals who are concerned about documenting their status.”
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said: “Far too many people have gone back for a wedding or a funeral or a holiday and could not come back.”
Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell added: “People lost a lot, people suffered a lot of pain, and they must be given an opportunity to correct this immediately, some serious compensation.
“If not the person, if they’ve gone, then the families who have suffered too.”
The case of Windrush era Gretel Gocan, 81, is an abuse which shames our nation.
We demand PM Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd sort it out immediately.
To be kept out for nine years after leaving for a sister’s funeral is unforgivable cruelty – a harsh immigration system persecuting those once welcomed but now inexplicably shunned.
Controlling our borders and policing migration should never result in miserable injustice.
Britain is supposed to be a tolerant country, but we must never tolerate unfairness.
Do the decent thing and bring Gretel Gocan home. Now. This is a burning issue even Mrs May must agree is a priority to resolve.