A six-year-old boy born in Britain to a British father may be left stateless after immigration officials declared his passport and citizenship of this country a mistake.

Leeds-born Mohamed Bangoura, who is due back at school in Sheffield next week, is stranded in Belgium after the Home Office denied him permission to board a flight home to Britain on August 26 following a three-week holiday with family friends.

Critics have questioned why the boy was allowed to holiday abroad by the Home Office, which had revoked his passport three months earlier. The boy’s mother said she never received the letter revoking his passport.

In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, Mohamed’s mother Hawa Keita, who is Guinean and based in Sheffield, told of her ordeal: “At the moment I am not really well because I am not with my son because I really miss him. I just want to see him. It is nearly schooltime and I want him to go there with his friends. Any mother would understand the stress this has caused.”

“The Home Office don’t help me for nothing,” said Ms Keita, whose father is a former Guinean ambassador to Belgium. “They just tell me I need to send my son to Guinea and try to find a visa to come to Britain. How can I send my son to Guinea? He is not Guinean, he is British.”