MORE THAN 1,000 people have pleaded with the Home Office to allow an Oxford criminal to stay in the country.

Ismaeel Mohammed, who is currently behind bars at Bullingdon Prison, is being deported to India – despite having lived in Oxford for most of his life.

The 20-year-old Indian national, formerly of Weirs Lane, Oxford, arrived in the city from Kashmir when he was just one year-old.

He was a pupil at East Oxford Primary School before going on to Cheney School andCity of Oxford College in Blackbird Leys where he studied engineering.

In October last year he was caught on Abingdon Road in Oxford in possession of cocaine, a class A drug.

He was also busted for several other drug offences and jailed for 26 months on January 30, by Judge Pringle at Oxford Crown Court.

Now behind bars and without British citizenship, he is eligible to be sent back to his ‘home’ country.

Read more: prisoners at Bullingdon given the all-clear for coronavirus

But Rob Lemkin has started a petition, which has now got 1,394 supporters, to fight his corner.

He wrote on Change.org: “His younger brother and sister both have British citizenship. His younger sister has Down’s Syndrome.

"Now the Home Office is proposing to deport Ismaeel to India, a country he has not visited since he was a baby and where he has no relatives.

"This will divide this loving family in a terrible and inhumane way.”

The Home Office said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”