Schoolgirl to be deported to Mauritius with her mother

A promising student and her mother are to be deported to their native Mauritius despite a prominent campaign to allow them to stay.

It appeared yesterday that Yashika Bageerathi, 19, had been given a last-minute reprieve when she was returned to a detention centre after travelling to Gatwick Airport to be flown back.

The teenager, who won support from a petition signed by 23,000 people and the model Cara Delevinge, fled Mauritius with her mother, younger sister and brother in 2012 to escape a relative who had been physically abusing her.

Lynne Dawes, head teacher of her school Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield, London, said last night solicitors received a letter from the Home Office stating Ms Bageerathi had no grounds for appeal and that her mother is also to be deported. “The whole family have been on an emotional rollercoaster, it is a really dramatic experience,” she said.

According to Ms Dawes, Ms Bageerathi was not flown back to Mauritius yesterday because British Airways refused to take the teenager on the plane. BA refused to comment.

PA