Father-of-four faces being sent back to Zimbabwe because he gained nine stone and no longer looks like his passport photo

A Zimbabwean father of four is facing deportation because he has gained so much weight since coming to the UK that he no longer looks like his passport photo.

Atterbell Maplanka, 36, moved to the UK in 2000, when he was just ten stone, but has almost doubled in size since.

Mr Maplanka, who lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, now weighs nineteen stone, and his appearance has changed so much that border officials barred him from re-entering the country.

He was on his way back from his mother's funeral in Zimbabwe earlier this month when he was pulled aside by guards at Heathrow, who doubted that he was the same man.

They sent him to a holding centre near the airport, where he is being detained as his distraught wife tries to secure his release. 

Mr Maplanka, who works as a housing officer in Eastbourne, said: 'I did not believe what they were saying - I thought it was a distasteful joke'.

Speaking from Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, he said: 'At first I thought I just had to prove to these guys who I was and I thought it was going to be a matter of finger prints, but when they took me away I could not believe it and I broke down and cried.'

Both Mr Maplanka's passports include fingerprints, but the Home Office said it does not store its own fingerprint records for more than 10 years, so has nothing to compare it to.

Mr Maplanka, who works as a housing officer, was given indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2003, and the documentation was attached to his Zimbabwean passport, issued in 1999.