The Home Office faced mounting anger last night over plans to deport a "model immigrant".

Mohammed Samad, 23, faces being sent back to the civil war-torn island of Sri Lanka after immigration officials detained him without warning on Tuesday morning.

The move has sparked fierce criticism from human rights experts, MPs and Mr Samad's supporters who have described him as a "perfect British citizen".

Mr Samad, of Hurstpierpoint, fled Sri Lanka after being badly beaten by Tamil Tiger rebels in 1999 and has raised his baby boy Oscar with wife Sarah, 21, and held down a long-term job as a groundsman at Hurstpierpoint College.

He has paid his taxes in full and become a hugely popular member of the community and a key player for Henfield Cricket Club. But he has failed to gain asylum status.

Mid Sussex district councillor Christopher Maidment said: "It is absolutely outrageous and goes against every single human rights law ever created.

"How the Home Office can send this man, who has worked hard to support his family and pay his taxes since arriving here, back to Sri Lanka is beyond comprehension.

"If there was a mould of the model immigrant it would be made out of Mohammed Samad."

Mr Samad could be deported as soon as April 14 which he says would force his wife Sarah and the couple's child onto benefits.

She said: "It has left me absolutely distraught and worried sick. It is tearing our family apart."

Mr Samad was detained without warning during one of his regular visits to check in with immigration officials in Croydon.

He is now being held at the Colnbrook detention centre near Heathrow Airport.

Mr Samad's lawyer Parvez Motiwala told The Argus he had doubts about the conditions Mr Samad is being kept in.

He attempted to launch a High Court battle to free Mr Samad but failed to get the case heard.

Mr Motiwala said: "This is an absolutely ridiculous case because although the Home Office is acting within the law it is using no common sense at all.

"Sending Mohammed back to Sri Lanka will force his wife onto benefits and rob this country of a good man."

A spokeswoman for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said the Home Office had detained Mr Samad because he was a "soft target" and accused it of doing it to simply boost its deportation figures.

She said: "We think that a man that is well respected in his community and has clearly settled well in this country should not be sent back to Sri Lanka.

"The Home Office has discretion to change this decision and we urge them too immediately. The immigration laws in this country often do not take into account very detailed personal circumstances and they should."