Asylum seeker family's High Court battle

LAWYERS have launched a judicial review in a bid keep a failed asylum seeker and his family in the country.

Fred Nukagem, his wife Sandra Yonga Mbell and their three children were due to be deported to Cameroon yesterday morning after being detained for the second time in two months.

But on Friday they were told that they would not be deported after Mr Nukagem's lawyers lodged a judicial review application with the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

The family are still being held at a detention centre, but hope that the High Court will rule that yesterday's attempt to remove the family was unlawful and contrary to Home Office policy to administer anti-malarial drugs to children prior to boarding the plane.

Mr Nukagem, of Port Street, Middleport, said: "It is a nightmare that I am going through at the moment. I don't know why I was arrested the second time, but I strongly believe the review will be successful."

The 37-year-old and his family were first taken to Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, in Bedfordshire, when police and UKBA officials attended their Middleport home in late September.

They were due to be deported before a late challenge by lawyers saw the action cancelled due to two-year-old twins Grace and Josepha, and five-month-old Julie Sandra, not having had anti-malarial drugs. An appeal was being planned when officials detained them again on Wednesday with the aim of sending them back to Cameroon.

The UKBA documents state that both failed to leave the UK when ordered and would be held at Yarl's Wood as they were likely to abscond if released.

The Government agency added that 29-year-old Mrs Nukagem had failed to produce satisfactory evidence of either her identity or right to remain in the UK, as well as attempting to deceive the authorities.

Official papers state that checks on the family's address repeatedly suggested that there was no-one living there.

But the family say they are legitimate asylum seekers who will be killed if they return to their homeland because of connections with political groups opposing the country's Government.

Yesterday's planned deportation was put on hold again following disagreement between lawyers and UKBA officials over the correct administration of anti-malarial drugs.

Lawyers argue that treatment must start two to three weeks before removal. But UKBA says that doctors at Yarl's Wood have confirmed that the drug needs to be administered only a day or two before entering a malaria endemic area.

Medics at the detention centre have also confirmed that the family are fit to fly, the UKBA states, as well as pointing out that the agency is under no obligation to repeatedly offer drugs.

The deportation has now been delayed pending a ruling by the High Court.