THOUSANDS of people have backed a widowed mother’s campaign to stay in the UK with her two young children after the Home Office decided she should be deported.

Although both of Om Gorry’s children – 10-year-old James and four-year-old Emily – are UK citizens and hold British passports, Mrs Gorry has had her application to remain in the country rejected. They go to school in New Milton.

Her husband Alan, who was British, died in a motorcycle accident in 2011 at the age of just 36, just months after Mrs Gorry lost both her mother and father to cancer.

Helen Thompson, a family member and friend who has launched an online petition to help Mrs Gorry, said: “This left Om on her own in Thailand with two young children who are both British/EU citizens.

“After rejecting an initial applica-tion for Om and her children to return to the UK – which was a very costly and upsetting experience – we requested an administrative review and were delighted to receive the news that the Home Office had awarded Om with an EEA family visa which allowed her and her children to live in the UK with her mother-in-law Pat Gorry.

“Since arriving in the UK in April 2014 the family have settled in very well, both children started school and are loving their life in the UK with their English family – life was just starting to look positive again.

“However, after applying twice for a derivative card the Home Office have rejected both applications, going back on their original decision of allow-ing Om access to the UK as the primary carer of her two British/EU children. They have confiscated her passport, telling her that she must leave the UK immediately or appeal.”

Ms Thompson said Home Office officials have said that Pat Gorry can now take over the role of primary carer for the two children.

“This decision has been made with no assessment of Pat’s financial or health situation, let alone the impact this will have on Om and her children,” she said.

“Om has already lost her mother, father and husband and she is now faced with the loss of her two children if she has to return to Thailand.”

She added: “How can the Home Office be allowed to put this family though such a traumatic experience when they have suffered so much pain and upset already?”

To sign the petition, go online and visit change.org