Doctor prescribed stay in UK

The threat of deportation had been hanging over Dr Gerard Santos' head for 18 months, and he was delighted when the judge at his appeal hearing said he could stay.

"This is the best Christmas present ever," said 40-year-old Dr Santos, who arrived in this country from the troubled West African country of Benin.

Dr Santos has worked at the Hilcrest Vernon care home in Littlehampton for the past four years.

"I love it there. It is challenging but I love it," he said.

He and his wife, Sheila, were not even able to go away on honeymoon after their wedding in August, 2001, as Dr Santos had to sign on at a police station three times a week, as well as going to the Home Office every three months.

"We can make plans, now. There's just not enough room in my head for all the plans I have," he laughed.

Delighted Sheila said: "I am still quite numb, actually. It is just unreal, we have waited so long for this."

The couple met six years ago, when Dr Santos was living in London and they were both looking for a place to live.

Benin's Communist government had sponsored his medical training in Bulgaria in the early '80s, but he wanted to leave because he didn't agree with the regime.

"Nobody was allowed to speak out, everybody lived in fear, it was terrible," he said.

He came to Britain and waited years while his immigration application was processed, having to sign on at the police station three times a week as well as going to the Home Office every three months.

"That made me very angry. It wasn't as if I was sponging off the benefits system. I had paid a 6,000 assurity, I was working and paying my taxes and I was paying my own legal bills.

"It was just another unnecessary added pressure," he said.

One day in June 2001 as Dr Santos was signing on, he was unexpectedly taken into custody. He spent 42 days in jail and was told he would be deported. He was only released from jail thanks to campaigning by Sheila and his work colleagues.

"I couldn't go back to Benin. The Communist government had been overthrown and anyone with any connections to it seemed to be disappearing. I knew it wouldn't be safe for me to go back," he explained.

A last minute Home Office reprieve meant Dr Santos was saved from deportation for the time being, until his appeal hearing last week.

The couple had been gearing themselves up to expect the worse, and expected the appeal hearing to last at least four hours.

But things could not have been more different, it took the judge just 40 minutes to decide Dr Santos should be allowed to stay in Britain.

He added: "It took a while for it to sink in. We are just waiting for the judge to confirm his decision in writing, then we will actually see it in black and white."