Hannah Dankwa went on a 16 day holiday to Ghana in April but wasn’t allowed to board the plane home. It was claimed there was an ‘irregularity’ with her date of birth.

In a striking green cardigan, Hannah Dankwa arrived at Heathrow after an overnight flight from Accra in Ghana.

Her family was overwhelmed with joy.

It’s been four months since the 81-year-old went on holiday to visit family, and was then locked out of the UK on her return. We first exclusively covered her story on the 28th of August 2025. Just 24 hours later she was issued with an emergency travel document.

Today, her family invited Channel 4 News to join her as she finally returned home.

She was greeted by mountains of fresh food including fried plantain, made by her grandchildren.

While there’s huge relief Hannah is back in the UK, there are still big questions to answer about the system that got her situation wrong in the first place.

Hannah’s story

Hannah went on a 16 day holiday to Ghana in April but wasn’t allowed to board the plane home. It was claimed there was an ‘irregularity’ with her date of birth.

We’ve seen all the correspondence between Hannah’s family and the government.

Evidence of Hannah’s right to be in the UK was first shown on the 12th of May, along with documents confirming her cancer diagnosis.

After being stranded for a month, the Passport Office said “Hannah does not meet the threshold for an emergency.”

In desperation the family reached out to Seema Malhotra who was a Home Office minister at the time.

They were told the government’s position remained unchanged.

Home Office ‘urged to act’

But thanks to our report, the Windrush Commissioner urged the Home Office to act.

Within 24 hours they issued an emergency travel document – four months after Hannah went on holiday.

But their response made no reference to the errors made, why it took so long, or even an apology.

Back in North London, the family are happy to have their mother and grandmother home.

But Hannah still doesn’t have a permanent British passport and the family is tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket, spent on trying to get her back to London.

For a woman who has been in the UK since the age of 19, the hurt of being locked out of the country she’s called home will sting for a while yet.

A Home Office spokesperson said:

“We are working closely with Ms Dankwa and welcome her return to the United Kingdom.

“Each passport application is carefully assessed on its individual merits, based on the evidence provided, and documents are issued once all required checks have been successfully completed.”

The Windrush Commissioner, Reverend Clive Foster, told us:

“I am relieved that Hannah Dankwa is now safely back in the UK where she belongs, and able to resume her cancer treatment. From the moment I became aware of her situation, I reached out to Hannah and her family and made it clear to the Home Office that her case must be urgently reviewed on compassionate grounds.

“It should not have taken media pressure and my intervention for Hannah to be allowed home. The initial decision that Hannah, an 81-year-old with a serious medical condition, ‘did not meet the threshold for an emergency’ suggests a failure of compassion and a troubling lack of urgency.

“Last week, I wrote to the former Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra, not only about Hannah’s case but also to propose a wider set of urgent reforms. These include improved support for people like Hannah who may be stranded abroad and training for consular staff.

“The Home Office Windrush Scandal is a Commonwealth scandal. This case shows the urgent need for greater understanding of the impact of the scandal not just in communities, but also within British Embassies and across government.

“I will be conducting a review of what went wrong in Hannah’s case. Once my review is complete, I will write to Home Office ministers with my findings and proposals to ensure this does not happen again.”(4 News)

Update news