Firth's intervention saves nurse from deportation

A Congolese nurse has won a last-minute reprieve from deportation following a campaign led by five bishops and the actor Colin Firth. The nurse said he feared for his life if he was forcibly returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He fled after refusing an order to inject a lethal dose of morphine into dissident soldiers. Pierre - not his real name - was to be removed on a charter flight from Stansted. But he was among four Congolese asylum-seekers who learnt that a legal appeal against their removal had succeeded. It was not clear last night whether the flight carrying another 37 people had taken off.

Firth became aware of the case through his mother, Shirley, president of a Southampton group that offers support to asylum-seekers. Mrs Firth said: "I am overjoyed because we have worked very hard for him. He had a very good case and would have been in danger if he had been sent back. There is a culture of disbelief at the Home Office in assessing applications from refugees. It doesn't always try to get at what the truth is."

The bishops joined a demonstration outside the Home Office yesterday against the removals. The Refugee Council said: "This shows that if you have got a friend on the outside you have a better chance of avoiding deportation. But a lot of people don't have such a friend."