A gay pensioner fears he will be deported back to Malaysia, where homosexuality is a crime, because he has not got a boyfriend to prove his sexual orientation.
Yew Fook Sam, 67, believes he risks being thrown in jail, beaten up or even killed if he is forced to return to the Asian country which he left in 2005.
But despite being active in the LQBT community in Liverpool, immigration officials claim the father-of-two has lied about his sexuality to stay in the UK, highlighting his current single status as 'proof'.
Sam said: 'I was so disappointed and depressed after being told that I was not gay. How can I prove it?'
Yew Fook Sam, 67, is in danger of being deported because immigration officials doubt his homosexuality because he has not got a boyfriend. He fears if he is sent back to Malaysia he could be killed
'I tried to tell the Home Office "I am 67. I don't need sex".
'But I am part of so many gay associations and have attended and worked as a steward at Pride festivals in Liverpool - and I want to be able to die openly as a gay man, not go back to Malaysia and keep it a secret.
'I have been photographed on marches here and I would be in danger of being arrested - and attacked by members of the public. I fear I could be killed if I had to go back.'
Sam's legal status in the UK is hanging by a thread and he currently has to report to immigration officials every fortnight and fears he could be detained at any of of these meetings.
He arrived in this country in 2005 on a visit visa and remained while working in the south of England.
In 2016, he was arrested for working illegally and detained for 10 months in an immigration centre before being housed in Home Office accommodation in Liverpool in 2017 and later in Kirkby, where he currently lives.
A judge sitting at an Immigration and Asylum Chamber said: 'Taking all of the evidence in the round, I do find the appellant is not a homosexual as he claims.'
This verdict was repeated by a judge in the Upper Tribunal who stated that the original judge 'provided detailed and cogent reasons for finding that the appellant's account of his sexuality was not a genuine and credible one, identifying numerous inconsistencies and discrepancies in his account...'
Sam says he lived a lie in Malaysia, where he
