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A gran told she was an illegal immigrant despite living in Britain for 50 years has finally received official leave to remain in the UK.

For the past two-and-a-half years Paulette Wilson has been denied benefits, access to healthcare and refused permission to work.

The 61-year-old even spent a week in the immigration detention centre in Yarl's Wood in October.

Paulette, who is a former cook who served food to MPs in the House of Commons, was even taken to Heathrow for deportation to Jamaica.

She hadnt returned to Jamaica since she was aged 10.

(Image: BBC)

But now she has received a biometric residency permit, confirming her settled status in the UK and bringing her a step nearer to gaining British citizenship.

Delighted Paulette said: “It’s great news. I’ve been really struggling – it’s hard without money.”

But the gran is still unsure why she was told she was an illegal immigrant, when she had worked and paid taxes in the UK for most of her life.

She said: “I’ve never done anything wrong; how could I be an illegal? It would be nice to get an apology from the government saying: we are sorry we put you though this.”

Paulette will now have to complete a naturalisation process to become a British citizen.

(Image: BBC)

Her worried daughter Natalie Barnes says her mum is still traumatised by her experience.

She added: “The experience of being in the detention centre won’t ever leave her."

Natalie was even banned from a government building in Birmingham when she tried to explain to Home Office staff that her mother was not an illegal immigrant.

An intervention by Jim Wilson, a lawyer who works with the Refugee and Migrant Centre in Wolverhampton, helped prevent Paulette’s deportation to Jamaica.

He said her papers had come through unusually quickly once the case was highlighted in the media.