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UK: "Extraordinary" deportation of mourning husband

01 August 2008

Arnel Cabrera (39) arrived in the UK to join his wife, Mayra, a theatre nurse who was recruited from her home in the Philippines following a National Health Service (NHS) recruitment crisis. Mayra was employed at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire, until she died in childbirth, in the same hospital at which she worked, in a catastrophic error that resulted in an epidural being mistakenly injected into her arm, rather than her spinal cord. Mayra's husband was told that she had died from an amniotic fluid embolism and it was a year before he discovered the true cause of her death. The baby survived and an inquest into Mayra's death returned a verdict of unlawful killing, finding the NHS trust guilty of gross negligence.

In May the Home Office informed Mr Cabrera that he has failed in his bid to remain in the UK, stating that he "had not established a family life with his son in the United Kingdom". It went on: "As his son remains in the Phillipines there are no insurmountable obstacles to his family life being continued overseas." Mr Cabrera had taken his son, Zac, to the Phillipines to be cared for by his family until after the inquest and other legal proceedings, with every intention of building a home with him in the UK. Alex Rook, Mr Cabrera's solicitor, who described the ruling as "dreadful", pointed out that: "If Arnel's wife had not been killed, the family would be living happily here."

The Home Office ruling has been criticised by the coroner at the inquest into Mayra's death, David Masters, who described the Home Office's ruling as "extraordinary". Lawyer, Seamus Edney, added: "Arnel was permitted to reside in Britain on the basis that his wife was working - but when she is unlawfully killed by gross negligence by the NHS, he is told he is no longer welcome." Alex Rook succinctly described Mr Cabrera's situation to The Independent newspaper: "His wife is killed by one part of the Government then Arnel is told by another part of the Government that he has to leave."

The Independent 10.5.08