Ashel Bramble Stranded in Montserrat

Following the volcanic eruptions on Montserrat most of the inhabitants, nearly all of them British Dependent Territories citizens, were displaced. The original population was about 11,000 and roughly 7,500 islanders have left since the volcanic activity began in July 1995. Belatedly the British government allowed some to come here, and gave them two years stay, with rights to claim benefits and work. Two years after the programme began, with no immediate end to the emergency on the island, it was announced that all those who had come would be granted indefinite leave if they asked for it. The remaining population, scattered across the Caribbean, would also be entitled to indefinite leave if they wanted it.

Ashel Bramble is a citizen of Montserrat and is now 21 years of age. However he has lived in the USA since the age of eleven. When he was still a teenager, he was convicted of the crime of supplying a small amount of drugs and served a prison sentence in the USA and was subsequently deported to Montserrat in January 1999. A few months later he came to the UK but was refused leave to enter on the grounds that exclusion from the UK is conducive to the public good. He was granted temporary admission but was removed to Montserrat on 27 October 1999.

Ashel is extremely remorseful for his actions. He simply wants to be given a second chance. He has ambitions to go to college and work with young offenders. He has served his prison sentence, thereby paying his debt to society. Why should he also be excluded from the UK? This offends the most basic principle of justice - he is being punished twice for the same offence. He has friends and relatives in the UK including a sister, aunts and cousins. He has no relatives at all in Montserrat.
His mother is dead and his father lives in the USA.

Ashel is a British Dependent Territories citizen. Soon after the 1997 election, the Foreign Secretary announced a review of the relationship between Britain and the Dependent Territories - now to be called the Overseas Territories. The results of that review were set out in the white paper: Partnership for Progress and Prosperity: British and the Overseas Territories (March 1999).This announced that citizens of British Dependent Territories were to be given the option of taking up British citizenship which would give them the right of abode and free movement rights in the European Economic Area. Implementation of this was announced in the Queen's speech: "My Government will work towards a new partnership between Britain and the Overseas Territories. They will take forward the offer of British citizenship to the people of the Territories."

Mike O'Brien, the Immigration Minister at the time, announced in May 1998: "The island of Montserrat, and its people, have suffered from the effects of significant volcanic activity for nearly three years. Much of the south of the island is uninhabitable, and conditions in the north are difficult for those remaining." The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in February 2000 confirmed that activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano continues and the volcano is still dangerous. Volcanic ash, which contains crystobalite (a toxic form of crystalline silica) poses a serious risk to health.

In the meantime Ashel is stranded in Montserrat and it appears that the Home Office are unconcerned about how habitable the place of removal is.