THE Home Office has apologised for giving The National false information about a Black Watch lance-corporal’s attempt to secure a visa for his teenage daughter to join him and his wife in the Highlands.

Denis Omondi, who is with 3 Scots, based at Fort George, and his wife Shelagh want his 14-year-old daughter Anne to live with them in Inverness. He has visited the teenager regularly in Kenya since 2012, when he first found out that he was her father.

The couple’s MP, Drew Hendry, has an adjournment debate on their case in the Commons this evening. Their case has dragged on for more than a month, during which time the Home Office was said to have lost its own paperwork – which it later denied. They also told us last month that officials had been in touch with Omondi, which they now admit was incorrect.

A Home Office spokesperson said yesterday: “A statement issued to your paper on 21 February which said that the Home Office was in contact with Mr Omondi about his immigration case was incorrect. We were not in direct contact with Mr Omondi at that time.

“We have contacted both Mr Omondi and his MP, Drew Hendry, today (4 March) to apologise for the distress caused by this error which was the result of an internal miscommunication. Mr Omondi’s case remains under review.”

In a letter to Hendry, Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said the statement was “not a deliberate attempt to mislead the press”.

She added: “Nevertheless, I fully appreciate the distress that such an inaccurate statement has caused to Mr Omondi and the potential negative impact it has had on your own reputation as a Member of Parliament.”

Omondi, who was interviewed by officers from the outsourced visa group VSF on Friday, told The National: “The interview was with visa officials in South Africa and it lasted for about 45 minutes. They were asking me to explain the whole situation, but they already had the answers from when I made the application.”

Hendry said: “Denis, Anne and their extended family’s lives have been put on hold while they wait for the Home Office to make their decision.

“Following the Home Secretary’s agreement to review the case over a month ago, the process should have been simple, but it has been anything but. I hope now that the UKVI have been in touch with Denis, things will move at pace and that common sense will finally prevail. There can be no justification for keeping this loving father from his daughter and I certainly won’t rest until they are reunited.”