Express & Star comment: Paulette Wilson is symbol of hope on Windrush

The Wolverhampton grandmother was threatened with deportation and locked up in an immigration detention centre after being wrongly identified as an illegal immigrant.

That despite the fact that she had lived in the UK for nearly 50 years as a worker, taxpayer and model citizen.

Her ordeal is one that nobody should have been subjected to.

The Windrush scandal has rightly seen the fall of a Home Secretary, and the Government still has questions to answer over the appalling treatment of people who were invited to this country to help it grow.

Through it all, Mrs Wilson has handled herself with great dignity.

Now she is looking to the future after a pioneering project to help people who have been incorrectly identified as illegal immigrants was founded in her name.

The Paulette Wilson Windrush Citizenship Project will be co-run by Wolverhampton council and the city's Refugee and Migrant Centre.

As one of the first of its kind in the country, it will offer support to people previously would have had nowhere else to turn.

One of the things that has been highlighted by the Windrush scandal, is that there are clearly many people out there who feel they are vulnerable to deportation as a result of not having proof of their citizenship rights.

We don't know how many people this has impacted upon, but quite frankly, even one is too many.

All over the country people have lost their jobs, been saddled with debt, and been denied access to benefits and medical support.

Thanks in no small part to the bravery of Mrs Wilson and others like her who have come forward, they no longer have to suffer in silence.

The Windrush scandal represents one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the Home Office.

The Government has a long way to go before it even comes close to putting things right.

No amount of compensation or apologies will ever make up for the distress caused to Windrush citizens.

We should be proud that Wolverhampton is leading the way in supporting those who have either been mistreated or simply need guidance.

In Mrs Wilson, the city has a symbol of hope that nothing like this will ever happen again.