Agony of woman whose disabled partner was deported to Jamaica after they couldn’t afford to review case

‘My three-year-old wakes up every morning and asks: is dada back? I can’t explain it to a three-year-old’

A woman whose disabled partner was on the charter flight to Jamaica says their family has been destroyed because they were unable to afford legal help challenging his case in the courts.

Father-of-two Rayan Crawford, 34, was on Tuesday’s controversial deportation flight, along with 16 other people, despite having moved to the UK to join his British father at the age of 12.

The Home Office had intended to deport a further 25 people but they were blocked from doing so by the Court of Appeal.

Mr Crawford’s partner Jana, 35, says they had also wanted a judicial review into his removal – but they were told by lawyers that it would cost £2,000, which they were unable to afford.

The Jamaican national, from Tower Hamlets, was detained three weeks ago under immigration powers.

Now Jana says she does not know how to tell their sons, aged 12 and three, that their father will not be coming home.

“He was always home with the kids. He took them out every day,” she says. “My eldest son is a good student. I’m worried he will be affected. He always had his father here. I can see he’s trying to find out by watching the news on his phone. I can see he’s starting to close up.

“My three-year-old wakes up every morning and asks, ‘Is dada back?’ I can’t explain it to a three-year-old.

“We were a normal family. He was always here. And now he’s not here it’s affecting my work, children. It’s destroyed our lives.”

Rayan Crawford, 34, was on Tuesday’s controversial deportation flight, splitting him from his partner Jana and two sons aged 12 and three (Jana Daduova)

Mr Crawford suffers from Blount disease, which requires regular medication, and Jana says she is worried for his wellbeing in Jamaica if he cannot access care.

He was deported over a two-and-a-half-year sentence for a burglary offence in 2017 – of which he served 12 months.

Jana says her partner had been with the “wrong crowd” when the offence took place and that he has since removed himself and is the “best dad” to their children. “He regretted it so much,” she says. “Since he came out of prison, he hasn’t seen his old friends.”

Without Mr Crawford to look after the children, she fears she may have to quit her job at Sainsbury’s in order to take over childcare.

Rayan, here with his children, is the ‘best dad’, says his partner

She says: “I do not want to be on benefits. I love my job so I don’t want to lose it. Now he’s gone I have to figure out what’s going to happen next.”

Ministers have claimed the men set to be removed on the charter flight had committed “serious crimes”, though some had been in jail for less than 12 months for one-time and non-violent offences, sometimes many years ago. Many arrived in Britain as children and have no other links to Jamaica.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Today 17 serious foreign criminals were deported from the UK. They were convicted of rape, violent crimes and drug offences and had a combined sentence length of 75 years, as well as a life sentence. We make no apology whatsoever for seeking to remove dangerous foreign criminals.“