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The pregnant wife of Boat Race protester Trenton Oldfield today said the Government’s decision to deport him will tear their family apart.

Oldfield’s British wife Deepa, 36, who is due to give birth this week, spoke out after the Home Office rejected his visa renewal application, leaving him facing deportation to his native Australia.

He forced a temporary halt to the Oxford v Cambridge race in April last year when he leapt into the Thames in front of the boats in a protest against “elitism and inequality” in Britain.

Today his wife accused the Government of politicising the immigration process. “This could split up our family, it will tear us apart,” she said.

“The impact would be devastating for us and for our child. She will have to spend her first year without her father as it would obviously take time for me to emigrate. The Government want him out and they have given no thought to the consequences of this decision.”

The Home Office told Oldfield, 37, who lives in Whitechapel and works as a publisher, that his continued presence in Britain would not be “conducive to the public good”. He plans to appeal, and pledged to “fight this all the way”.

Millions of TV viewers saw him halt the 158th annual race. He was jailed in October for six months at Isleworth crown court for causing a public nuisance.

His wife added: “They claim Trenton is a threat to national security but if that was the case, why did they release him from prison without any conditions or restrictions? This has been a massively politicised decision by the Government. Trenton was imprisoned for a peaceful protest and they are trying to punish us again... because Trenton spoke out against the Government.”

The Home Office said: “Those who come to the UK must abide by our laws. We refused this individual leave to remain because we do not believe his presence in this country is conducive to the public good.”