| Electronic Telegraph |
April
4, 1996
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| Title: Defences are raised to keep teenager at castle | ||
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BUSINESSMAN launched a final judicial campaign yesterday to stop the Home
Office deporting the Nepalese teenager he has made his son and heir. Richard Morley, who lives in a castle in the Forest of Dean, has instructed lawyers to lodge an appeal in the High Court against an order to deport Jayaram Khadka, 19, as an illegal immigrant. Mr Morley said Mr Khadka is "petrified" at the risk of being arrested when he reports each week to the police at Coleford, Gloucestershire. The Home Office has rejected a recommendation by an Immigration Appeal Tribunal that he should be allowed to stay on compassionate grounds. A spokesman said: "Mr Khadka has been served with full notice of his situation and has reached the point where he is required to leave. "He was brought here by Mr Morley for a short visit on a visa valid for six months and has remained unlawfully for over four years. He has no claim to remain here." But with a judicial appeal in prospect, a five-day moratorium will probably apply. The appeal is Mr Khadka's last hope of continuing to stay with Mr Morley at Clearwell Castle, near Coleford. 'If you are talking about income there isn't that much left over each month' Failure would mean a return to an unknown future in Nepal, where he was a poor kitchen hand. Mr Morley said the Home Office decision to deport the teenager was "malicious and without justification". He pointed out that the appeal tribunal report in February described Mr Khadka as "a young man of promise" who would not be a burden on public funds. The businessman conceded that his battle against the authorities was putting a strain on his finances despite the income from his computer and information technology businesses. He ran Clearwell Castle as a hotel until recently but has stopped taking guests to concentrate on his campaign. He puts the value of his assets at "between £1 million and £2.5 million" but much of it is tied up in investments and property. "," he said. His fight to keep Mr Khadka in Britain began a decade ago when the boy's father, Basu, helped to save Mr Morley's life when he fell ill on a Himalayan holiday. Asked to name his reward, Basu requested that if he died the Englishman should look after his son. When Basu died, Mr Morley, an ex-Naval Officer, found that Jay, then 14, was skivvying in a Nepalese restaurant. He brought him to England. 'He has no proper family to return to in Nepal' The manner in which Mr Morley has fulfilled his duty has aroused questions. "Our relationship is like a father and son but there has been continuous innuendo of perversion," he said. "It is totally unfounded and a sad reflection on society." Mr Morley believes that the official animosity might stem from such suspicions, a visa error overstating Mr Khadka's age or the communal lifestyle led at Clearwell. He said Mr Khadka was now a part of that group and spends his days improving his English, doing schoolwork and helping in household chores. "He is a very young 19, not very mature by the standards of British youngsters," said Mr Morley. The thought of being detained at the police station and locked in a cell petrifies him. "He has no proper family to return to in Nepal, just a mother of 65 who told him to get on his bike and earn a living when he was 12 and some sisters who have families of their own." Mr Morley said that if Mr Khadka were deported, he would move to Nepal. "I accept that I am responsible for what he has become," he said. "Whatever I have done to him I must share with him. Whatever his fate is, it will be mine, too." |