The Government is often accused of being too lenient in its handling of illegal immigrants.

Yet the reverse is true in the case of South African schoolgirl Nthabiseng Moloi.

She joined her mother in Oxford after her father died, settled at John Mason School, Abingdon, and wants to complete her studies before returning to South Africa.

But the Home Office has ruled that because she is now 18, she has lost her right to stay in Britain and must leave at once.

It all smacks of heartlessness.

If Miss Moloi is forced to leave, the chances are that her mother will have to leave too, depriving the Churchill Hospital in Oxford of a valued renal nurse.

This is one occasion when ministers should bend the rules.