A GRANDMOTHER who was deported despite to Singapore despite being married to a North-East man for 27 years has been granted a visa to return to the UK, the Home Office has confirmed.

Irene Clennell's indefinite leave to remain lapsed because she lived outside the UK for more than two years to care for her parents in Singapore.

She had lived in Ouston, near Chester-le-Street with her husband, John and has two British sons and a granddaughter.

Mrs Clennell, 53, who was the main carer for her husband was placed in an immigration detention centre before being deported to Singapore earlier this year.

She had just £12 in her pocket and no change of clothes when she was removed from the country.

At the time she accused the Home Office of treating her “like a terrorist” and said despite promising to send someone to meet her in Singapore, they never did.

But in a statement, the Home Office said she had now been granted a visa.

It said: “Mrs Clennell has been granted a visa as a spouse as her latest application meets the immigration rules to enter the UK.

“This does not negate the previous decision which was the result of Mrs Clennell having entered the UK as a visitor, overstaying her leave to remain and making several applications while in the UK which did not meet the immigration rules.

“During that time, it was open to her to leave the UK voluntarily at any time in order to reapply under the correct route as she has now done.”

Speaking in February, she said: “It is a bloody disgrace, they treat me like a terrorist and anything else under the sun.

“They embarrass me in front of everybody, the only thing I did wrong was marry a British man and want to stay in the country with my kids and my husband.

“I have never done anything wrong to anybody, all I want is my family and this is what I get.”

Mrs Clennell married her husband in 1990. She was then granted indefinite leave to stay.

She returned to Singapore in 1992 to provide care to her sick mother and her husband relocated to Singapore, where they had two children together.

The Home Office said previously that where a person has indefinite stay, it will lapse if they live outside the UK for two years or more.

They said Mrs Clennell last entered the UK as a visitor in 2013 and went on to make an application to remain as the spouse of her husband.

This was refused and her appeal rights were exhausted in July 2014 and she was removed in February. Mrs Clennell’s husband has declined to comment.