Messages of support have been streaming in for a father-of-three who faces deportation.

Friends, family and strangers from the UK and Australia have contacted The Argus to support the newspaper’s Don’t Deport Daddy campaign.

Phil Sommerville, 46, faces being torn apart from his wife of 12 years and three children Cooper, 12, Jasmin, 8, and Charlee, 6.

The ordeal centres on a missing Home Office letter which the Government office claims to have sent in March, but which the family say they never received, asking for more documents.

The first the family knew was when a deportation letter landed on their doormat at Bolnore Village in Haywards Heath.

Phil’s uncle David Holt emailed from Australia and said: “I understand every nation must maintain regulations regarding people entering and staying in their country, but when a person becomes a victim of Government failures and then gets penalised for it, it really demeans the system that implements the rules.

“I am a born and bred Australian, brought up to respect and admire the ‘Mother Country’, the birthplace of modern justice and fair play; has the ‘mother’ of equality really fallen to the position of inflexibility and weakness so as to penalise victims of its own failures?

“Phil is a hard-working bloke who went to Britain with his wife and three children to be with his ailing mother-in-law, entering up front through the front door. His wife and children need him with them.

“I also thank you for taking on his case. Shows there are still genuine and caring people there.”

'Shocking and ridiculous'

Grace Oliver wrote: “I have known Isabel Sommerville for 43 years. I grew up with her and spent much of my teenage life with her.

“What is happening to her and her family is totally shocking and utterly ridiculous.

“She and her family knowthat I am right behind them on this and anything I can do to help support their case will of course be done.

“So pleased you have taken the case on and let’s hope something good will come very soon.”

The Argus: Don't Deport Daddy

The Argus is backing the Sommerville's fight to be kept together.

Don't Deport Daddy will support the family in their battle to keep Phil in the UK.

The Argus believes it is cruel and quite plainly wrong to split up a loving father from his wife and children.

We are calling on common sense to prevail and for the Home Office to reassess the family's situation.

We are backing the calls of Cooper, 12, Jasmin, 8, and Charlee, 6: “Don't Deport Daddy.”

Email us with your messages of support at news@theargus.co.uk.