A CAMPAIGN has been launched in a bid to stop the deportation of a Dorset mother who is serving a prison sentence for a drugs offence.

Former hospital auxiliary nurse Cheryl Laws, 28, was jailed for five years at Bournemouth Crown Court for her part in a conspiracy to supply cocaine, masterminded by her former partner Mohamed Pour.

Judge Christopher Harvey Clark did not recommend that Cheryl should be sent back to her native Philip-pines because it would separate her from her daughter Jasmine, now eight.

He accepted Cheryl had been under the “malign” influence of Pour, 44, who was jailed for 14 years.

Now engaged to Poole law student Daniel Brookes, model prisoner Cheryl is eligible to be released on licence in November after serving half her sentence.

But the Home Office wrote to her in jail last year telling her it intends to deport her. She lost an appeal against that decision at a tribunal in February and has lodged a further appeal with the High Court.

Mr Brookes, 30, of Parkstone, has started a petition and created a website in support of his fiancee, on which he describes her as “a kind, caring woman and an even more loving mother”.

He told the Echo: “She split up with her husband and was depressed. She met Mo in a pub one night and everything went seriously downhill from there.

“This is the first time she’s been in trouble. She’s an absolutely fantastic mother. Jasmine sees her at least twice a month and has a very good relationship with her mum. I don’t want her to end up another screwed-up child.”

Mr Brookes argues that deporting Cheryl, who has not lived in the Philippines since she was 18, would not only breach Human Rights laws, but would also mean she was being punished twice.

The campaign is being supported by Cheryl’s ex-husband Duncan, who lives with Jasmine in Kent. He said: “I know Cheryl has done wrong, but on release she needs to be here for Jasmine, not 7,000 miles away in the Philippines.”

  • For more information visit website help-stop-the-deportation-of-cheryl-laws.com.