A HEADMASTER has condemned moves by the Home Office to return one of his ex-pupils to the former Soviet republic of Moldova.

On Friday, the Daily Echo highlighted the plight of Andrei Bazanov, 19, who arrived at Poole Port as a terrified 15-year-old and has since gone on to excel academically and socially - but now faces deportation.

John Granger, Andrei's former headmaster at Bournemouth School, said: "We think it's awful.

"I find it quite extraordinary this country thinks it can afford to lose someone of his talent.

"He came to us hardly able to speak English. He was clearly a bright boy and worked very hard and fitted in with the other boys very quickly.

"He was a model student who made a great contribution and he was a great model to the other boys while he was here."

The brilliant and hard-working teenager, who is now studying for a software engineering management degree at Bournemouth University, has lost contact with his mother and younger sister in Moldova.

Andrei ran away from his children's home in Moldova and went to France where he eked out a living selling newspapers.

He arrived at Poole Port illegally in August 2001, where he was found by sniffer dogs and went on to be taken under the wing of Poole social services.

He passed his GCSEs just six months after arriving and went on to excel in the sixth form.

In the last few years Andrei has built up a network of friends, has a part-time job in Comet and goes to a karate club.

Mr Granger said: "I think our immigration laws need to be looked at very closely if someone like Andrei, with so much to give to this country, is to be sent back just because of some rules we have invented. He added: "He has nothing to go back to as far as I understand."

First published: Oct 11