WHEN Sir Bob Russell was invited to present a certificate to a teenager for sporting achievement he wasn’t expecting a tearful reunion with a young family he saved from deportation.

The veteran Lib Dem MP got a shock when he arrived at Kingswode Hoe School, in Sussex Road, Colchester, yesterday to meet Kierron Thomas.

The schoolboy, 16, suffered a brain haemorrhage when he was eight, which has had a significant impact on his memory and communication skills.

A student at the special school, he has just completed the Sports Leaders UK’s PlayMaker Award.

The organisation invited Sir Bob to present the certificate, which recognises leadership skills.

When the MP arrived, he realised he had helped Kierron and his family to remain in the UK about 15 years ago.

Kierron’s mum, Geraldine Thomas, who watched her son receive the certificate, is from the Philippines, but moved to Colchester and had two children with a soldier from the town.

When he left the family, she was told she had no legal right to remain in the UK even though her children, then aged one and two, did.

Sir Bob took her case to the Home Office and won the right for the family to stay. He said: “It was quite emotional when I was shown into a side room before the presentation to meet their mother again after all these years. I had no idea it was her son I was going to present a certificate to.

“She had told staff of how I had helped her and her children, and that without me they would all have been deported.”

Mrs Thomas said she would never forget Sir Bob’s help.

She said: “I was in tears when he was speaking about us. He’s like a father to me.”

Kierron is working towards a Level 1 qualification in sports leadership.