POLICE ARREST ILLEGAL FACE OF

THE new face of Tesco, chosen to star in a glossy advertising blitz, has been arrested for being an illegal immigrant.

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Mother-of-three Fatou Cham, a 32-year-old checkout operator, won an in-house Tesco contest to be the face of its new autumn clothing range.

But she now faces deportation after a tip-off to immigration officials - and has been hurriedly dropped from the ad campaign.

Fatou beat hundreds of applicants to model clothes for Tesco's Florence and Fred range after bosses opted to ditch professional models in favour of "real women".

She appeared earlier this month in glossy women's weekly Grazia, in a striking full-page pose modelling a tight pounds 18 blue dress and pounds 12 highheeled shoes.

The expensive ad carried the caption: "Designed by F&F. Priced by Tesco. Modelled by Fatou, checkout no 6, Tesco, East London."

Fatou - one of six women chosen to model the range - has also appeared in ads in gossip weeklies OK!, New!, and Look.

And she took part in a newspaper feature as part of a giant marketing blitz for the trendy new range.

Fatou came to the UK from Gambia, West Africa, in 1998 aged 21 to study banking, economics and finance at London Metropolitan University.

Two years later, her mother and eldest child were granted a visa to join her here.

The family, including two further children born in this country, settled in East Ham, East London, and Fatou began working for Tesco in nearby Beckton in 2002 to fund her studies.

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Her student visa had run out a year earlier. She applied to stay on, but did not have the necessary paperwork and has been here illegally since.

Immigration officers raided her home on Monday and she was questioned for two hours. Officers also went to her eldest child's school and took her to the Borders Agency offices.

Fatou, who has split from her children's dad, is appealing the decision.

"The last few days have been really stressful," she said. "I came here for a better life and never set out to deceive anyone. I just want to stay here with my family and be happy.

"I was really excited about being the face of Tesco and could not wait to see what opportunities it gave me. Now it has all gone horribly wrong."

In January Fatou applied for indefinite leave to remain, but the Home Office refused. She has appealed to the High Court.

Her solicitor Jamil Trawally said: "It is not as though she tried to avoid the authorities because she applied to stay. I am sure she was brought to the attention of the police because of the Tesco campaign."

When Fatou joined Tesco in 2002, all that was required for overseas citizens to work in the UK was a valid national insurance number.

The law changed in 2004 requiring people from abroad to have a valid work visa.

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A spokesman for Tesco said: "As soon as we were made aware of this issue, we cooperated fully with the investigation. We're satisfied we followed the correct procedures."

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