Legal bid to stop dementia patient's deportation

The daughter of a man facing deportation from Sweden said a last-minute injunction has been submitted in an attempt to pause the process.

The Swedish authorities said they wanted George Mason, originally from Hinckley in Leicestershire, to leave the country by midnight on Thursday.

His daughter, Michelle Torossian, said the family's lawyer had filed a legal challenge on Thursday morning to pause the deportation order.

A spokesperson for the Swedish Migrations Agency said: "We can confirm receipt of a case of an impediments to enforcement which the agency now will process."

Mason, 74, who has vascular dementia and vascular parkinsonism, has lived in Sweden for more than 20 years and is currently in a specialist care facility in the country.

When the UK left the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020, British citizens stopped being EU citizens, which meant they could no longer stay in Sweden with right of residence status.

During a transitional period, British citizens could apply for residence status under a withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU - which ended on 31 December 2021.

Torossian said the family was told by the British Embassy on 7 August Swedish authorities had given Mason until Thursday to leave the country or face deportation.

The injunction, if accepted, would pause the deportation order so the family could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to try to get the deportation order overturned.

However, Torossian said she did not know how long the injunction would last if accepted.

She said: "We are still waiting. We are on tenterhooks.

"None of us know what is going to happen, it is making me feel sick.

"I am hoping and hoping that we can get this extension.

"I am worried about how this waiting is going to affect him."

Torossian said doctors had advised the Swedish authorities the process of moving Mason to the UK would pose a "danger to his life".

Torossian said if "worst comes to worst" she had provisionally arranged a place at a care home in Barwell for her dad.

David Milstead, a citizens advice volunteer from the Brits in Sweden group, said: "If this thing [injunction] is accepted then there are different possible ways forward like a temporary residents permit while the authority works out how to deal with the situation in the long run."

Rejecting a previous appeal by the family, Migration Court of Appeal documents state "when weighing up the state's interest in regulated immigration" and Mason's "private life", it determined expulsion was "proportionate".

Torossian said previously the situation had been "awful" and "traumatic" for the family.

"I'm just worried that if the police go in and try and take him, how is that going to affect my dad? We just want him to have some dignity," she said.

"We want him to be treated like someone - he's very vulnerable, and I just feel that this is really ruthless and harsh."

Torossian explained that due to Mason's health conditions, a "god man" - a legally appointed trustee - was given power of attorney to look after her dad's affairs.

Documents from the Swedish Migration Agency, seen by the BBC, state an application for permanent residency for Mason was made on 21 December 2021.

However, it was refused on the grounds documents showing he met the grounds for residency were not submitted. A further application on the grounds of his connection to his son, Carl Mason, who has Swedish residency, was also rejected.

A further appeal was subsequently rejected by the Migration Court of Appeal in June 2026 - before another was lodged with "extensive medical evidence".

It stated that a medical assessment said a move from his care environment was "not medically justifiable" and would pose "significant risks" to his health.

However, the court rejected the appeal in July, with documents stating his medical condition was not "life-threatening" and added he would be able to access care in the UK.

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