The British Home Office has agreed to look again at the case of the Jamaican mother of an Iraq war veteran facing deportation.
Joy Dean Bowman faces being sent back to Jamaica despite having two sons who served in the British Army, and a daughter who is studying for her secondary certificate exams.
The Immigration Minister has agreed to review her case and her deportation, which was scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed.
Mrs Bowman came to Britain six years ago with her three children, alleging that her husband threatened to kill her.
Her sons, Leven, 28, and Damian, 24, both joined the British Army.
Leven saw active duty in Basra, while his brother Damian was featured in an Army recruiting campaign to persuade more people from ethnic minorities to join the forces.
But despite her sons’ service and Mrs Bowman’s years of voluntary work in the UK, the Government has now told her that she will be put out of the country.
“I feel betrayed, and I feel used and I feel that they used my sons,” Mrs Bowman said.
She also fears that her husband will quickly find her if she is sent back.
“Jamaica is only a small island so I’m certain that there will be nowhere for me to hide if I’m sent back there,” she said.
“I was repeatedly abused by my husband but the police ignored my complaints.
In the end, when he was threatening to kill me in front of the police and they still did nothing, I took the children and fled to the UK.”
Although she is not allowed to work in Britain because she is an asylum seeker, Mrs Bowman has been a healthcare volunteer for the last five years and is now studying to become a nurse.
Her friends and supporters say the threat of deportation is not the way to treat a family which has made a positive contribution to the UK, and her sons are calling on the Home Office to grant Mrs Bowman permission to stay in the country.
“I was proud to serve my country and the Government was happy enough for me to risk my life fighting in Iraq,” said Leven Bowman.
“I simply can’t understand how they can now threaten to deport my mother back to Jamaica even though they know that her life there is seriously at risk.
“I urge the Government to show compassion and allow her to remain here.”
They are also planning a protest for Wednesday, the day that Mrs Bowman’s immigration fate will be known.
