Publisher Health

A pensioner with Alzheimer’s faces being split from her family and deported to the UK from Sweden, after nearly two decades in the country.

Sweden has ordered British-born Kathleen Poole, 74, to leave after her application to remain in the country post-Brexit was not accepted, her family told the BBC.

They said it was “disgraceful” Sweden wants to deport the grandmother.

The Swedish government said authorities are in contact with the family.

Mrs Poole – who moved from Macclesfield, Cheshire, nearly two decades ago to Sweden to be closer to her family – is currently bedbound and receives round-the-clock care in a home where she has been living for the last 10 years.

The grandmother-of-four’s family was told in September 2022 she would be deported, despite making her application for Swedish residence status before the December 2021 deadline brought about by the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement.

Her family said her application was rejected because she did not have a valid British passport – which they said she did not need as she could not travel due to her poor health – and despite sick notes from doctors.

Speaking to the BBC, daughter-in-law Angelica said: “I sent six doctors’ notes. I sent personal letters explaining the situation and it wasn’t good enough.

“In the end they said ‘sorry’ you have to leave the country.

“Then they wanted us to book her a flight to the UK, which we refused. So now the British embassy are having to look for accommodation and the police are on their backs.

“I think it’s disgraceful really how you can deport somebody who is sick and take her from her family. She’s one of the nicest people you will ever meet.”

The family are now hoping a sick note from a doctor, who has visited Mrs Poole in person at her care home, will persuade the Swedish Migration Agency to reopen the case. But in the meantime, Angelica said her children remain worried sick that the grandmother may be sent away from them.

“It’s not human to split somebody bedridden from her family,” Angelica added.

“All this is due to Brexit. The way I see it she’s lived here for 19 years this year.”

MP Hilary Benn, former Brexit Select Committee chair, has urged the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, to intervene in the case.

He said: “The continuing threat by the Swedish authorities to deport this frail elderly woman is heartless and inexplicable.

“It is also in clear breach of the EU/UK Withdrawal Agreement which promised to protect citizens’ rights.”

The follow-on legislation from Brexit, which ended freedom of movement, allowed EU citizens resident in Britain to apply to permanently live in the UK. Some EU nations also opted for this system to allow Britons to remain resident in their country.

David Milstead, part of the British in Sweden campaign group, told the BBC he was disappointed but not surprised by Mrs Poole’s case and that the UK and European Commission needed to look at the wider issue in the Scandinavian nation.

He said: “Sweden’s approach to implementing the Withdrawal Agreement has led to a lot of long-standing residents being forced out of their homes.

“Sweden has issued more deportation notices to UK nationals during 2021-2022 than any other EU country.

“This is in spite of the Withdrawal Agreement containing protections that should ensure that people like Mrs Poole get to stay. These protections clearly aren’t working.”

Sweden has expelled 1,100 British nationals since Brexit, according to the Guardian, which first reported Mrs Poole’s case.

Jane Golding, chair of the British in Europe group and a Berlin-based lawyer, has written to the European Commission about Mrs Poole and said she understands they are following up the case with Swedish authorities.

She told the BBC: “The problem that Kathleen Poole’s family has come up against is that the UK and some EU countries including Sweden, decided to go for a system where citizens had to reapply for their status post-Brexit.

“We warned that it would be vulnerable and elderly people who would suffer as a result. People like Kathleen Poole – someone who has lived in another country for years and whose residence now depends on a successful application and is not capable of making the application herself.

“Each EU country implements the Withdrawal Agreement nationally and there are differences in approach. That is why guidance across the EU on cases involving the vulnerable and elderly who have problems applying would help.”

In a statement, Sweden’s Minister of Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard said: “Decisions related to residence applications are applied directly by the Swedish state agencies and courts in line with the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement.

“As laid down in the constitution, the Swedish government is not permitted to interfere in or comment on individual decisions taken by these independent state bodies.

“With regard to the case in question, I have been informed that the Swedish Migration Agency is in contact with the family concerning additional information.”

A UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British woman and her family in Sweden.”