THE JAMAICAN mother of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield, who was shot dead in north London in September 2003, has won a last-minute reprieve from deportation and has been allowed to stay in the United Kingdom temporarily.
British authorities, on Wednesday, removed Roselyn Richards and her two sons from their plane at Heathrow Airport as they waited to fly to Jamaica, following attempts to deport her.
Ms. Richards had gone to London two years ago to support the as yet unsolved investigation into Toni-Ann's murder. Toni-Ann was shot in the back outside her convicted crack dealer father's home where she was spending the weekend. Police believe the gunmen or women were there to execute her father - 41-year-old Bertram Byfield - and shot Toni-Ann to prevent her identifying them as her father's killers.
Claiming she had received death threats, Ms. Richards had filed for asylum in the U.K. "If I was to go back to Jamaica, me and my two sons are going to end up like Toni-Ann," she said.
FAMILY MEMBER KILLED IN JAMAICA
Her solicitor, André Clovis, from law firm Christian Khan, told the BBC that a family member of Ms. Richards' had already been murdered in Jamaica for asking questions about Toni-Ann's death.
Cheryl Sealey, from Community Victim Liaison, an organisation that supports families of violent crime victims said she would be applying pressure for Ms. Richards to remain in the U.K. She called for support from Operation Trident, the police unit that investigates gun crime in London's black community.
Toni-Ann had been under the care of Birmingham social services at the time of her death and a subsequent inquiry found that they and immigration services had made serious mistakes over her care.
Social services had moved Toni-Ann from foster parents in the Midlands to live in north London, just weeks before she was murdered.
