Windrush NHS nurse, 81, is separated from her six kids and homeless in Jamaica after being refused re-entry to Britain following 2010 holiday
AN 81-year-old Windrush NHS nurse has been separated from her six kids after being refused re-entry to Britain after a holiday.
Gretel Gocan has been left homeless in Jamaica since 2010 after visiting family, and has no money and no pension.
She : "From the life, I once had surrounded by my children in London to having been made homeless in Jamaica has broken my heart. I travelled to Britain to help out on the promise of a new life but now they have turned their back on me.
"My children are still in London but I am left here. It is not how I wanted to live my final years. I miss my family so much. I want to return to my home in the UK but can’t.”
Her daughter Pauline Blackwood said she came to the UK in 1960 and never applied for a British passport, but had a stamp on her Jamaican one granting indefinite leave to remain.
That document was stolen in 2006 and when she went to Jamaica on a new passport in 2010 she found herself refused permission to return to the UK and told she needed a visa.
She told 5 News: "My mum has six children in the UK and she has grandchildren and some of them she hasn't seen or even held.
"Her family is here and it is for her to make that choice whether she chooses to stay in Jamaica or come back to the UK, but that is not an option for her, she is forced to stay in Jamaica.
"My main fear is we're going to lose our mum. She has no money, all her pension's been stopped and her medication too - she has diabetes - that's all been denied to her."
Some 286 people have so far contacted a Home Office helpline set up to offer support for members of the Windrush generation with concerns about their migration status.
A Home Office spokesperson 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 unreservedly for any distress caused and we are urgently reviewing these cases.
"The Windrush helpline is open to individuals overseas, as well as in the UK, who are concerned about documenting their status."
Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell called for "serious" compensation, saying: "The word compensation came out today - that was highly significant, extremely important.
"It's not just, 'I'm sorry.' People lost a lot, people suffered a lot of pain, and they must be given an opportunity to correct this - some serious compensation.
"If not the person, if they've gone, then the families who have suffered too."
Asked if Mrs May should have accepted the "hostile environment" immigration initiative was a mistake, Mr Mitchell said: "I think the fact she has addressed it is indicating that Britain and the policy they enunciated initially was not the right one.
"And therefore by making the statement she made today, I think she's heading in the right direction. And I'll give her credit for making the right turn."
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