An 18-year-old Abingdon College student has been left stranded in South Africa after being refused entrance back into the UK.

Sarah Motsemme with daugher Nthabiseng Moloi

South African teenager Nthabiseng Moloi had been living with her mother in Oxford since her father died when she was 14.

Miss Moloi has no living relatives in South Africa and is presently staying in Johannesburg with friends. Her mother, Sarah Motesemme, 46, of Break Hill, Greater Leys, Oxford, is a UK resident in Britain and works as a nurse at the Churchill Hospital.

She said: "I'm distraught. I'm so worried about Nthabiseng. She is a young girl and South Africa is a very dangerous place.

"I have just bought a house here. It was supposed to be a family home but I'm on my own struggling to pay the mortgage while my daughter is trapped in South Africa."

Miss Moloi was studying for an NVQ in media at Abingdon College.

She returned to South Africa to renew her student visa in August, but this was not granted and Miss Moloi was not allowed to return to Oxford to start her course in September.

Mrs Motsemme flew to Johannesburg in December, and spent Christmas with her daughter. In January they tried to fly back to the UK but Miss Moloi was prevented from boarding the flight.

She was interviewed at the British High Commission in Pretoria in October, and told she could not get a student visa unless she had a letter of acceptance from a UK university, which she cannot get since she has not yet finished her NVQ.

Mrs Motsemme said: "I have been told to go to immigration solicitors. But this costs £900."

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith has agreed to write to the Home Office on behalf of Miss Moloi.

The Home Office is not permitted to comment on individual cases.