AN online petition launched to save a survivor of child trafficking and modern slavery from being deported has gained the support of more than 100,000 people.

The petition was set up earlier this month following news that the 19-year-old’s application for Asylum and Humanitarian Protection had been refused.

The teenager, known as Stephen to protect his true identity, was a homeless child in Vietnam before he was picked up by criminals aged 10 and trafficked to the UK where he was forced to work in a cannabis farm.

Three years ago he was rescued by police and social services and fostered by Shildon vicar Rev David Tomlinson and his wife Davina.

Mr and Mrs Tomlinson have appealed the decision to refuse Stephen asylum, and his case is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal in London on Monday, January 5.

The case has the backing of MP Helen Goodman and the Bishop of Durham Paul Butler and more than 106,000 people have signed a petition calling on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to grant Stephen asylum.

The petition was launched by David Reynolds, of Shildon, whose parents also fostered children when he was a child.

He said: “I’m not close to the Tomlinson family though I have a huge respect for them and what they have done, and continue to do, in the town, and I just felt that at moments like this the right thing to do is to come together and show some unity.

“In Stephen’s case I am disturbed by how daunting and dangerous the situation is when not only the support and stability is removed, but the lad is then sent to another country almost as far from safety as it’s possible to get.

“That seems a cruel thing to do and the consequences could be unthinkable, and for those closest to him right now, unbearable.

Rev Tomlinson said: “We are really touched and delighted at how well the petition has gone, we have had lots of messages of support and people have really got behind it.”

Stephen is now preparing to take the petition to the Houses of Parliament on Thursday with MP Helen Goodman and Rev Tomlinson’s daughter, Naomi, where he will deliver it by hand before speaking to MPs about his experiences of being trafficked as a child.

Rev Tomlinson added: “Stephen is scared about the outcome of the appeal. We are at court next week but we won’t find out the result for three weeks, and even if asylum is granted it can be appealed.

“I am nervous, I dread to think what would happen if we got a negative result.”