Swedish bureaucrat who is deporting British grandmother

The lame duck Swedish bureaucrat who is deporting elderly British grandmother with Alzheimer’s and separating her from her family because her passport has expired

  • Mikael Ribbenvik has rejected pleas for Kathleen Poole to remain in Sweden
  • This will be one of his last moves as director of Sweden’s Migration Agency

The head of the Sweden’s Migration agency is using his last days in office before he is forced out of his job to deport an elderly British woman with Alzheimer’s, who cannot walk or talk, and rip her away from her loved ones.

In a move that has been branded as ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’, Mikael Ribbenvik has rejected desperate pleas for bedbound Kathleen Poole, 74, to remain with her family in Sweden, where she has lived for 18 years.

Instead, Ribbenvik has ordered for Mrs Poole to be sent back to the UK – a journey the pensioner’s family fear she won’t survive – because she does not have an up-to-date passport or financial statements to demonstrate her right to be in the country post-Brexit.

And now, it has emerged that this will be one of the last moves by Ribbenvik as the director-general of Sweden’s Migration Agency before he is ousted after a stormy seven years in the role.

The Swedish government refused to extend Ribbenvik’s contract beyond May amid accusations of ineptitude. During his tenure, the agency has been criticised for failing to confirm the identities of those applying for residence permits in Sweden and long wait times. 

In a move that has been branded as ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’, Mikael Ribbenvik (pictured) has rejected desperate pleas for bedbound Kathleen Poole, 74, to remain with her family in Sweden, where she has lived for 18 years

Kathleen Poole with her son Wayne and daughter-in-law Angelica who are fighting her deportation from Sweden where she has lived for 18 years

Instead, Ribbenvik has ordered for Mrs Poole to be sent back to the UK – a journey the pensioner’s family fear she won’t survive – because she does not have an up-to-date passport or financial statements to demonstrate her right to be in the country post-Brexit. Pictured: Mrs Poole in her care home

‘It’s not a secret that I would have wanted to stay,’ Ribbenvik told Sweden’s TT news agency.

And as Ribbenvik counts down the days before he is forced to leave the Migration Agency where he has worked for 27 days, his last move will be to oversee the deportation of Mrs Poole. 

Ribbenvik, whose wife Martine Ribbenvik Cassar is a human rights lawyer who is ‘committed to social justice and human rights’, has so far refused to bow to the desperate pleas of Mrs Poole’s family. 

Mrs Poole moved to Sweden from Macclesfield, Cheshire, 18 years ago to be close to her son, Wayne, his Swedish wife, Angelica and their four children.

But the bed-ridden pensioner developed dementia 11 years ago and has been in a care home for the past decade. She is now so incapacitated by the degenerative illness she cannot feed herself or go to the bathroom unaided. 

And despite this, she still faces being kicked out of the country after her family’s bid for her to stay was rejected. Mrs Poole’s loved ones had told authorities she didn’t have a passport because she was too ill to travel and didn’t need one.  

Mrs Poole’s family now fear she won’t survive the journey to the UK if she is forced to return.

Angelica, 42, said: ‘We don’t know just how long she has left which is why we’re fighting so hard to keep her in Sweden with us. We don’t know if she would even survive the journey to England because her health is so poor, there’s a significant risk that she wouldn’t.’ 

News that the pensioner would be thrown out of Sweden was met with outrage in the UK, with politicians branding it ‘cruel’ and ‘deeply shocking’.

Mrs Poole developed dementia 11 years ago and has been in a care home for the past decade. She is now so incapacitated by the degenerative illness she cannot feed herself or go to the bathroom unaided

In happier times: Mrs Poole cuddles one of her grandchildren. She now faces being ripped from her family and deported to the UK, having not lived there for 18 years 

But on Monday night, Mrs Poole’s family was given fresh hope after Swedish authorities claimed they would look again at the pensioner’s case. 

Officials told her loved ones to supply them with a doctors’ letter outlining her condition so that authorities can ‘reassess her situation’. 

‘We have just been told to get medical certificate detailing her condition, explaining that she cannot move and is confined to bed, that she cannot eat or speak and is extremely fragile,’ Angelica told MailOnline from her home in Tanumshede in south-west Sweden. 

‘Once we give that to the Migration Agency, an official there told us they will reassess the situation.

‘It’s positive news but I won’t get too far ahead of myself because they don’t seem to be communicating with the Swedish Police Authority who are continuing to pressurise the British Embassy in Stockholm into finding alternative accommodation and care for Kathleen in the UK.

‘They haven’t done so yet… and neither have my husband and I because I made a promise to my children that their grandmother will stay in Sweden. And I always keep my promises.’

Angelica continued: ‘Kathleen’s family is here. She has a sister and brother who live in Buxton in Derbyshire but they haven’t seen her in 10 to 15 years.

‘The simple fact is that Kathleen’s life were her grandchildren. It’s been incredibly tough on them to watch her slowly slip away but we aren’t giving up.

In 2004, Mrs Poole, gave up her job as a hotel chambermaid and with her husband, Ron, followed her son and daughter-in-law to the town of Tanumshede, just north of Gothenburg and close to the Norwegian border.

Ron passed away a few years ago from a stroke and Mrs Poole developed Alzheimer’s when she was 63. The degenerative illness has meant she is now no longer able to look after herself.

In 2004, Mrs Poole, gave up her job as a hotel chambermaid and with her husband, Ron, followed her son and daughter-in-law to the town of Tanumshede, just north of Gothenburg and close to the Norwegian border. She is pictured with her late husband

 Mrs Poole is seen clutching a box of chocolates in a photo shared by her family

She needs to be hoisted from her bed by carers to get into a wheelchair. She also uses continence pads.

Her loved ones said they made an application for her to remain in Sweden before the 2021 deadline. However, it was rejected as she did not have a passport.

Last year, they were told she would be deported in September. Police reportedly showed up at the care home a few months later in January when her loved ones, who do not have power of attorney, were unable to provide the documents needed for her to stay in Sweden.

Officers went through the pensioner’s wardrobes and riffled through her clothes before quizzing carers about her, the family said.

News of Mrs Poole’s plight has outraged campaigners, who have lashed out at the decision – with Labour MP Hilary Benn branding it ‘deeply shocking’.

Councillor Laura Jeuda, who represents Macclesfield South at Cheshire East Council, told MailOnline: ‘I think it’s very cruel… I’m really surprised at Sweden. We know them for being very caring – their social care is really good.

‘It’s just bizarre they should pick on a woman of that age who has this added complication of dementia.

‘We don’t know what will happen to that poor woman if she’s ripped away from her family and taken to a strange county she won’t remember.’

The Labour councillor called on Whitehall to step in and oppose the decision by the Swedish authorities.

Branding the fiasco as ‘another downside of Brexit’, Ms Jeuda added: ‘We need to get something from government on this, otherwise what are we saying about our old people – that they really don’t matter?’ 


‘Cruel’ and ‘deeply shocking’: Labour MP Hilary Benn, left, has lashed out at the move by Sweden to deport Mrs Poole, formerly from Macclesfield. While ocal councillor Laura Jeuda (right), who represents Macclesfield South at Cheshire East Council, blasted the decision to deport the pensioner, labelling it ‘cruel’

David Milstead, a British professor of physics in Sweden who is part of the British in Sweden group, hit out at police. 

He said they were ‘just doing a box-ticking exercise’ about what she can take with her instead of saying ‘this is preposterous, this should not be happening’.

Under the withdrawal agreement for Brexit, UK citizens living in the EU before the 2016 referendum were granted the right to remain.

However, in several countries, it involved completing applications and paperwork to prove historical rights under free movement rules.

Mrs Poole and her family are being supported by the Foreign Office. 

A spokesperson for the Swedish government has said it is ‘against the law’ to comment on any immigration matter while the European Commission said it was ‘aware’ of Mrs Poole’s case and that it was ‘in touch’ with Swedish authorities.

More than 520,000 people in the UK have dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease.

MailOnline has contacted the Swedish Migration Agency for comment. 

What is Alzheimer’s disease and how does it affect the body?  

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, in which build-up of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die.

This disrupts the transmitters that carry messages, and causes the brain to shrink.

More than 5 million people suffer from the disease in the US, where it is the 6th leading cause of death, and more than 1 million Britons have it.

WHAT HAPPENS?

As brain cells die, the functions they provide are lost.

That includes memory, orientation and the ability to think and reason.

The progress of the disease is slow and gradual.

On average, patients live five to seven years after diagnosis, but some may live for ten to 15 years.

EARLY SYMPTOMS:

Loss of short-term memory

Disorientation

Behavioural changes

Mood swings

Difficulties dealing with money or making a phone call

LATER SYMPTOMS:

Severe memory loss, forgetting close family members, familiar objects or places

Becoming anxious and frustrated over inability to make sense of the world, leading to aggressive behaviour

Eventually lose ability to walk

May have problems eating

The majority will eventually need 24-hour care

Source: Alzheimer’s Association

Source: Read Full Article