The Daily Mail (London, England), Feb 13, 2003, p.10

So why did they pick on Mary?; Thousands of bogus asylum seekers are allowed to stay here. Yet this devoted grandma, who has lived in Britain all her life, was given 7 days to get out.

by Angela Levin; Peter Allen.

A GRANDMOTHER of ten who has lived in Britain since she was two wept tears of relief last night after the Home Office lifted a deportation threat against her.

Mary Martin, a pillar of her community in the Suffolk village of Trimley St Mary, had been branded an illegal immigrant and given a week to leave.

The order was the final blow in a 17-month nightmare during which she tried to prove her status, but was treated with contempt by the same system that allows around 200 illegal immigrants a day to vanish in the UK.

Mrs Martin, a 55-year-old school cleaner, had been preparing to go into hiding herself as a last resort before officials admitted yesterday they had made “a terrible mistake”.

“This has been the most horrible experience of my life. I just don’t know why I was persecuted in this way,” she said.

“I am not an educated woman. I left school at 16 and it’s been very hard for me to know where to turn or what forms to fill in. I couldn’t find a single official who was on my side or would help me.” Mrs Martin was born in the U.S. after her British mother June married an American airman.

The marriage broke up and her mother returned to Britain with her daughter, then two.

Mrs Martin has not left this country since, and has had four children and ten grandchildren, all born here.

It was only when her mother died from lung cancer in March 2001 and she was sorting through her papers that she realised she had never been registered as a UK citizen.

She decided to apply for a passport and her nightmare began. “I’d never sought proof before because I never wanted to go abroad,” she said. “We’ve only ever been on caravan holidays in this country.

“I went to the Home Office and saw an official in September 2001. They treated me like scum and made it obvious they just wanted rid of me.

“I had taken all the paperwork I thought they wanted, including my birth certificate, my American passport, mortgage receipts on the house I’ve owned for 22 years, my mother’s marriage and death certificates. I also gave them a pile of wages slips to prove I didn’t live off the State.

“They told me in a brutal manner that they weren’t interested in anything I had brought.

Instead, they asked for a letter from my doctor to say he had seen me once a year for ten years. Fortunately I later managed to provide that.” But nothing in her impressive package of documentation was enough to convince the overzealous officials.

They were not even prepared to accept that she had been here for 14 years, the length of time which would normally give her the right to exceptional leave to stay, regardless of the legality of her position.

The first official response was a letter saying they would deal with her case within six months.

After that she heard nothing and towards the end of last year sought help from the head of the school where she works, then from her MP John Gummer.

Her anxiety grew as the months passed without news.

Then last Friday she heard the worst. “I got a note saying there was a recorded delivery letter at the Post Office. I went to collect it and read that I had a week to leave the country. My legs gave way and I collapsed in the street. I just lay on the pavement crying.” The last week has been sheer torment. “I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” she said. “I didn’t dare answer the door for fear it was the immigration people coming to deport me.

“It’s not just me who has suffered. My poor grandchildren thought they were going to lose their granny.” In her desperation, Mrs Martin contacted the Law Society for legal help. They gave her a list of solicitors. “I telephoned six firms but not one showed the slightest interest in helping me,” she said.

“I couldn’t help feeling how different this was from the wealth of free legal advice that is available to illegal immigrants.” The about-turn came after a local paper told her story. Mr Gummer contacted the Home Office and last night officials admitted their mistake.

“The Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes reviewed the case and decided that Mary Martin will be granted indefinite leave to stay in the UK,” said a spokesman.

“This was clearly a mistake and defies commonsense. We will investigate this thoroughly to ensure that lessons are learned.” Mr Gummer said: “I have never seen a case as bad as this in all my time as an MP.” Mrs Martin, whose 1965 marriage ended in divorce and who has lived for 12 years with her partner Ted Harrod, 61, said: “I consider myself British from my head to my toes.

“Now I am just so happy that I want to cry. But I won’t really believe it till I have it in writing.”

Which one do you think should be deported?

BORN

Baltimore, Maryland in 1947, the daughter of English-born June and US airman James Martin.

ARRIVAL IN BRITAIN

Moved back home to Ipswich, Suffolk, with her mother in 1949 after the troubled marriage came to an abrupt end. June went on to marry her childhood sweetheart and brought up Mary alongside four younger children.

FAMILY

At age of 18, married Michael Wells, who she met at school in Ipswich.

Together they had three children, Tony, now 36, Lorraine, 35, and David, 32, who served in the Army and fought in the Gulf War. After splitting up with Mr Wells she had a fourth child, Kathy, 31, with her new partner. She also has 10 grandchildren.

HOME

Has owned her semidetached house in Trimley St Martin, Suffolk, for 22 years.

She shares the property, and the mortgage, with partner Ted Harrod, 61, a self employed builder.

CONTRIBUTION TO BRITAIN

Was given a National Insurance number at the age of 16 and has been working ever since. Started out as a child minder for an American couple, on 30 shillings a week, then became a partner in a catering business in Felixstowe.

Now works as a part-time cleaner at the local primary school. Has lived in Suffolk for 54 years and has not been abroad, preferring caravan holidays in the British Isles.

TAX/BENEFITS

In almost 40 years of steady employment Mary has paid more than £100,000 in income tax and National Insurance contributions.

She was a higher rate taxpayer for many years until her business folded in the mid 1980s. Total benefits have amounted to just £2,000 in child support and a few weeks of single parent’s tax allowance, in the aftermath of her divorce. Now earns around u150 a week.

IMMIGRATION STATUS

Declared an illegal immigrant and given 10 days to leave the country.

Massive public outcry prompts last minute Home Office U-turn.

SHEIKH OMAR BAKRI MOHAMMED

BORN

Aleppo, Syria, in 1958, he claims to be the 26th son of wealthy orthodox Moslem family and studied Shariah law in Damascus.

ARRIVAL IN BRITAIN

Became an agitator for the Syrian Hizb ut-Tahir - translated as Liberation Party - which was planning a coup d’etat, and was deported. He moved first to Beirut, then to Saudi Arabia and finally arrived in Britain in 1985.

FAMILY

Married with a Lebanese wife, he has six children.

HOME

Council house in Edmonton, North London, worth £300,000 on the open market.

CONTRIBUTION TO BRITAIN

None.

Spends his time running radical organisation Al-Muhajiroun from office in Tottenham, North London. It claims to be “eyes, ears and tongue” of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group. Close links with the one-eyed cleric Abu Hamza, recently banned from preaching at London’s Finsbury Park Mosque following police raid. Despite enjoying benefits of British tradition of free speech for 18 years, says: “I am against manmade laws and democracy is a manmade law. It is the fruit of depravity.

“We share the same beliefs and objectives as the Taliban and Al Qaeda.”

TAX/BENEFITS

Receives around £300 a week in benefits — �85 income support, £50 housing benefit, £70 child benefit and £100 disability allowance. In total he has received more than £200,000 from the taxpayer since 1985 � but has not paid a penny in tax.

IMMIGRATION STATUS

A year after he arrived in Britain, his passport was cancelled by the Saudis. He claimed political asylum and was granted indefinite leave to stay — the authorities acknowledged that he would be in danger if he were to be returned to either Saudi Arabia or Syria because of his political activities.

Follow-up stories

Grandmother deportation plans “on hold”, Daily Mail, 11th Feb. 2003

Grandmother’s joy as deportation lifted, Daily Mail, 12th Feb. 2003