Widower loses battle to stay in UK

A Filipino man has lost his right to stay in the UK after his wife was killed by an NHS blunder.

The Home Office refused Arnel Cabrera's application to remain.

The 39-year-old came to Britain in 2003 after his wife Mayra, a theatre nurse, was recruited by the NHS to work at Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

But on May 11, 2004, she died at the same hospital when a epidural anaesthetic was mistakenly injected into her arm rather than her spinal cord during childbirth. The couple's son Zac, who survived, turns four on Sunday.

An inquest jury in Trowbridge returned a verdict earlier in February this year of unlawful killing, finding gross negligence manslaughter against Swindon & Marlborough NHS Trust and the midwife who administered the drip.

"This is an absolutely dreadful decision. If Arnel's wife had not been killed, the family would be living happily here," said Alex Rook, the solicitor who handled the Mr Cabrera's immigration case.

"But because his wife is killed by one part of the Government, then Arnel is told by another part of the Government that he has to leave.

"I will be writing to the relevant Home Office ministers asking them to reconsider their decision."

Mr Cabrera's personal injury lawyer Seamus Edney also reacted with disgust, saying: "I am staggered by this decision and embarrassed on behalf of our Government.

"Arnel was permitted to reside in Britain on the basis that his wife was working - but when she is unlawfully killed by gross negligence by the NHS, he is told he is no longer welcome."

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