Leeds Windrush child Lorenzo's globetrotting plans: He has got a UK passport after 52-year wait

Lorenzo Hoyte 62, who has now received his UK passport.
A WINDRUSH child who came to Leeds in the 1960s has spoken of his joy after being told he will soon be given a UK passport more than 50 years after arriving in this country.
21 September 2018. Picture Bruce Rollinson — Lorenzo Hoyte 62, who has now received his UK passport. A WINDRUSH child who came to Leeds in the 1960s has spoken of his joy after being told he will soon be given a UK passport more than 50 years after arriving in this country. 21 September 2018. Picture Bruce Rollinson

OVERJOYED Windrush child Lorenzo Hoyte couldn't leave this country for 52-years but now plans to travel the globe after finally receiving his UK passport.

Lorenzo, 62, has spoken of the “magic” moment he and Olympic athlete sister Joslyn Hoyte-Smith sat down over coffee and cake and opened the package containing his passport.

He was unable to attend his mother or brother’s funerals abroad because he was not classed as a British citizen and had repeatedly had passport applications refused.

And he couldn’t go to the Moscow Olympics in 1980 or the Los Angeles Games in 1984 to see Josyln compete for Great Britain in the women’s 4x400m relay.

Now the Home Office has granted Lorenzo a UK passport following his application under the Windrush scheme.

Lorenzo was born in Barbados and came to Live in Beeston, Leeds, in the mid 1960s as a ten-year-old.

He plans to travel to Canada and see his ailing 89-year-old father Belfield in Toronto the new year and then to Barbados to see relatives.

Grandfather-of-six Lorenzo, now of Wrenthorpe, Wakefield, also wants to go to China and Russia.

Lorenzo, who works as a welder at Hopkins Catering in Pudsey, said: “Josyln was a little giddy when we sat down.

“It was magic. We chuckled together and opened it together and we had a nice coffee and carrot cake. I just thought ‘I’m free, I have grown wings.’

“I have never been able to fly because after I came here I got my wings stripped and now I have got them back .

“There’s so may things I want to see and so many places I want to go. I would love to go to Moscow and stand in Red Square and I would love to go to China.

“I’m going to work and save and I’m going to do some travelling.”

Lorenzo added: “I would really like to thank my boss Victoria Hopkins at Victoria Hopkins Catering in Pudsey. She is brilliant, she has supported me in every way.”