A FRANTIC mother last night learned that the father of her two children had been granted a last-minute reprieve from deportation to war-torn Congo.

Hayley Parkinson said she was "living in a nightmare" after her partner of five years was forcibly removed from Teesside and placed in a deportation centre.

Serge Migambo, 36, is one of about 40 Congolese people from the UK who were arrested as part of a Home Office clampdown on failed asylum seekers.

The refused asylum seekers were placed in deportation centres in the South-East and were due to be returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on a flight last night.

But as campaigners last night made a final attempt to prevent the enforced removal of the asylum seekers, Ms Parkinson said it was discovered that Serge had tuberculosis.

Speaking last night, Ms Parkinson said: "He's in hospital in Oxford and they are not putting him on the flight. We heard from our solicitor at five o'clock today. I am very relieved.

"I don't know wether I'm going to be allowed to see him in hospital, but he is going to be under treatment for six months."

The Home Office yesterday would not confirm if or when the flight would be taking place, but campaigners believed it was due to leave from an airport in the South at about 9pm.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We can neither confirm or deny the existence of a flight prior to a flight landing safely. We do not comment on operational matters."

Mr Migambo has lived on Teesside since 2001 and met his partner, Hayley Parkinson, 23, five years ago.

The couple, from Middlesbrough, have two children, Christian Parkinson-Migambo, one, and Marshall, 11 months.

Mr Migambo is of mixed race - part Congolese and part Tutsi. He fled when Tutsis were targeted by the Government. He was detained when he reported to Stockton police station.

The last time Ms Parkinson saw him was on February 17, when she visited him at a deportation centre in Manchester.

Speaking from her home last night, she said: "My head is just all over the place. Serge is not very well. When I talk to him he is just really quiet and he's lost a lot of weight. If they send him back to Africa, he will die. I am just very angry and very upset.

"My kids are crying. The little one is a bit too young to understand, but the older one is looking at photos and coming in the bedroom in the morning and running to his side of the bed. I have to tell him he's not here and just try to reassure him.

"My head just feels as if it is going to explode. We were just hoping that one day, we would get a letter saying he could stay. We always had an idea it would happen. To me, it's just a shock and just like a nightmare."