‘I didn’t trust the system’: lasting trauma of Windrush victim barred from UK for 10 years

Winston Jones, who for a decade was unable to return home from Jamaica, almost didn’t apply for compensation, fearing it was a trap

Winston Jones has worked hard to rebuild his life after Home Office errors meant he was unable to return to his family in the UK for 10 years after taking a short holiday in Jamaica in 2005, enduring a decade of near destitution and homelessness in Kingston.

Jones, 64, a former bakery manager at Sainsbury’s, has used the money he received from the Windrush compensation scheme to set up a podcast studio and music recording unit in Manchester, working with his son to create opportunities for local young people.