Teacher Blay can stay in Suffolk

BLAY Armah, the teacher who was faced with the prospect of having to leave Britain has won a reprieve after Home Office officials granted him extra time to get a new job.

The maths teacher originally from Ghana, met with immigration officials in Harwich yesterday and was told that he is free to stay in England as long as he can find himself a job.

The good news continued to flow for Blay when he returned home to hear that a message had been left on his answer phone. It was from Stowmarket High School asking him to work for four days as a supply teacher.

He said: "Now I feel very happy and I can settle in England. I feel like things are getting sorted out."

As reported in Friday's Evening Star, the 28-year-old had seen his future thrown into confusion after he was arrested as an illegal immigrant on September 12 from his Ipswich home, in Handford Road.

A spell in various detention centres across England followed, but now the 28-year-old has been told that he will be able to stay in England – for the time being at least.

Officials told Blay that his application to stay in the country would be considered by the Home Office – a process that could take months.

This gives him plenty of time to find new work and if he is successful in finding a new teaching job during this time he has been assured that it will be "OK" for him to stay in England.

Although the couple can now look forward to a more secure future, Blay still has to report to a local police station on every first Thursday in the month. Blay says that no explanation was given for this and he is unsure of the reason.

Blay's partner, Tracey Mayes, has welcomed the news and is happy that a "strain" on their relationship has now been lifted.

The 35-year-old, who is living with Blay in Hill Rise Road, Stowmarket, said: "I am delighted, really happy. I feel more secure now.

"I thought this would never come to an end though. It has been pretty hard going."