The fear that there would be a knock at the door any time telling you to leave the only country you’ve known since childhood, sounds like something from a nightmare.

But this was the reality for many victims of the Windrush scandal in London.

A year since the scandal broke, we spoke to one Croydon man who has experienced it despite living in South London nearly his whole life.

Noel Russell moved to England from Jamaica when he was 11 years old, but was only given a UK residence permit this year (2019), aged 67.  

His father, of the same name, was one of the thousands who came over with the s0-called Windrush generation.

Like many Jamaicans he came into Tilbury docks in 1952 but soon went up to Nottingham to work for the National Coal Board.  

And Mr Russell’s mum, Edith, came over a few years later, settling in Brixton in 1960.

He stayed at home in Jamaica with a family friend until in 1963.

When he got to the UK he lived in Brixton with his parents and went to Balham Secondary School.

“I was the only black guy in my class,” he said. 

“I didn’t know about racism when I landed here. Where I came from I had Chinese, white and Indian classmates and we were all Jamaican.

“When I came here to the mother country I found contradiction, bullying and division, nobody wanted to give me a chance.”

In London his mother worked making handmade chocolates for Floris in Brewer Street.

While his dad started work pressing vinyl records in Streatham before making the move to Transport for London, eventually becoming a train driver.

A love of horses

Jamaica gained independence from the UK in 1962, a year before Mr Russell came over to London.

It was the first – and still is the only time – he had been on a plane in his life

His dad had left shortly after his birth so coming to England was the first time he had properly seen him.

“He carried a picture of me all the time and when he went down the mine he always had it in his possession,” said the 67-year-old.

“Since I came here I never left his side.”

He had three younger siblings who were born in the UK, and therefore were British citizens by birth.

Living next to a racecourse in Jamaica started a lifelong love of horses for Mr Russell.

At 13, when he told his English teacher he wanted to be the first black jockey he was told to write to the Queen.

So he did, and even got a response.

“She recommended me to make my parents take me to Epsom for an apprenticeship which would last five years,” he said.

“And she said maybe when you can complete it you can go back to your country and become a jockey.

“When my dad read it he was devastated because not even he could change my status.”

After school he had a string of jobs working in catering and even at Harrods.

He said he ‘worked for a new suit’ and would spend his wages on smart new clothes. But that earlier letter from the Queen did not put him off horses.

And in his 20s, with a grant from the GLA he got a place on a course for thoroughbred breeding at Witney Agricultural College in Oxfordshire.

He bought his first mare in 1979 and got a job at Longholes Studfarm in Newmarket for a place to keep the horse. 

Since then he has bred two horses and has dreams of buying land to develop his passion with any payout he gets from The Windrush Compensation Scheme.

‘He was treated like an illegal immigrant’

He met his wife Christine when they were 19 through a friend in South London.

But their lives went separate ways for a while and it wasn’t until years later that they met in Brixton Market and ‘fell in love at first sight’.

They dated for a few years and married 22 years ago living in Shurblands in Croydon for many years with Christine’s two daughters. 

After the death of his Mr Russell Sr in 2014 aged 87, the couple moved to Mitcham to take care of Noel’s mother who passed away in April 2018. 

He added: “When I buried my mum I said I wanted justice and about seven days later the news broke about the Windrush scandal.

“I felt justified, until it became official you couldn’t do anything about it.”

He speaks of his parents being scared to go home to Jamaica, fearing that they would not be allowed to return to the UK if they wanted to.

His wife Christine remembers the uncertainty they have faced over the years.

She said: He couldn’t get his driving licence even though he has a National Insurance number.

“Sometimes it was hard for him to get a job because they did all the identification and they found a reason to turn him down. 

“They were treating him like he was an illegal immigrant in this country.

“For years the thought was ‘is there going to be a knock on the door and are they going to say he’s got to leave the country’.“

Told they can stay

In May last year MP Sarah Jones held a drop-in Windrush surgery with members of the government’s specialist task force.

Mr Russell attended this with many others and has since been given a UK residence permit.

He is now eligible to apply for a compensation scheme, announced by home secretary Sajid Javid this month.

Commonwealth citizens who settled in the UK before 1973 are eligible to apply if they have losses to claim for.

It will also be open to people of any nationality who have a right of abode, settled status, or are now British citizens, who arrived to live in the UK before December 31, 1988.

Luckily Mr Russell has kept everything from school reports to pay slips so will be able to fill in the form, but he knows others won’t be so lucky.

And even though now all victims of the scandal the Croydon Central MP helped have been told they can stay in the UK she says the fight isn’t over yet.

“The Windrush compensation scheme has taken far too long to be released and I support the calls to abolish the £10,000 cap on compensation,” said Ms Jones.

“Some of my constituents have known years of hardship due to this scandal and they deserve to be properly compensated.”