Windrush campaigner Paulette WIlson has died aged 64 

Windrush campaigner Paulette WIlson who was nearly deported despite living in the UK for nearly 50 years has died aged 64

  • Paulette Wilson, 64, was found dead by daughter Natalie Barnes on Thursday 
  • The Windrush campaigner had delivered a petition to Downing Street last month 
  • She had spent 50 years in the UK before being threatened with deportation 

A Windrush campaigner has died one month after delivering a petition to Downing Street signed by more than 130,000 people calling for action to address the failings which led to the scandal.

Paulette Wilson died unexpectedly aged 64, according to a statement from her daughter.

She came to Britain from Jamaica aged 10 in the late 1960s and lived in Wolverhampton.

Ms Wilson spent two years under the threat of deportation and spent some time in a detention centre before being told she could stay in the UK in 2017.

She was threatened with deportation, despite living here for 50 years. 

Now, Natalie Barnes said she found her mother early on Thursday, and she appeared to have died in her sleep.

Members of the Windrush generation Paulette Wilson, 64, who arrived from Jamaica in 1968, and Anthony Bryan who arrived from Jamaica in 1965. Ms Wilson has now died 

Pictured: The SS Empire Windrush which brought the first generation of workers to Britain from the West Indies in 1948

Pictured: The SS Empire Windrush which brought the first generation of workers to Britain from the West Indies in 1948

Ms Barnes said: ‘My mum was a fighter and she was ready to fight for anyone. She was an inspiration to many people. She was my heart and my soul and I loved her to pieces.’

In 2015 Ms Wilson received a letter saying she had ‘no right’ to be in the country, telling he she had to register each month in Solihull, and she even spent a week in the immigration detention centre in Yarl’s Wood in October. 

Mrs Wilson was taken to London Heathrow Airport and threatened with deportation to Jamaica, where she has not returned since leaving age 10.

She was denied benefits, access to healthcare and refused permission to work.

She finally received leave to remain in Britain after a two-and-a-half-year struggle. 

Ms Wilson told BBC Breakfast at the time that an apology from then-home secretary Amber Rudd was ‘a good thing’ but added: ‘What about all the other people who were sent away before my case became big?’

She went on: ‘It’s just upsetting to think that an ordinary person like me could go through something like that. I’m still going through hell at the moment.

Published in March, the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, concluded 'elements of institutional racism' were behind the Windrush scandal

Published in March, the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, concluded ‘elements of institutional racism’ were behind the Windrush scandal

‘It’s really hard for me to put it in words… I’m still hurt, I’m still hurt, that’s all I can say.’

Along with Anthony Bryan, Elwardo Romeo, Glenda Caesar, Michael Braithewaite, Patrick Vernon and her daughter, Ms Wilson delivered the petition to Downing Street last month.

A report published in March found the Windrush scandal – which saw people with a right to live in the UK wrongfully detained or deported to the Caribbean – was ‘foreseeable and avoidable’ with victims let down by ‘systemic operational failings’ at the Home Office.

Official figures published in May revealed fewer than 5% of claims made under a compensation scheme for victims have been paid out.

Since the scandal emerged in 2018, more than 11,700 people have been given ‘some form of documentation’, Home Secretary Priti Patel told the House of Commons in March.