Baby girl held 'behind barbed wire' returns home

AN Irish-born baby girl, held for nearly a month in a detention centre in Britain, is due back in Ireland today following a deal between the authorities here and in Scotland. Percieliz Ikolo has been staying with a member of the Scottish parliament since she and her mother Mercy were released on bail from the controversial detention centre at Dungavel outside Glasgow.

But last week Ms Ikolo, who fled her native Cameroon where she claims to have been subjected to political violence, was told she and 18-month-old Percieliz will be returned to Ireland. They are due to be placed on an early morning flight from Glasgow to Dublin.

"It's OK to be going back to Ireland but I just wish they had let us back earlier. There would have been a lot less problems if they had let me go back in the first place," said Percieliz's 32-year-old mother, speaking from Rosie Kane's home in Glasgow.