A man who escaped Uganda as a child and was given permission to stay in Britain is now stranded in the African state after being refused a visa to return home.

British officials have prevented photographic technician Mark Bukumunhe, 37, and his father, Ignatius, 73, from coming back to their home in the city after a family holiday in Uganda.

Mr Bukumunhe, who works at Annings (Ilkley) Ltd on Cunliffe Road, has lived in the area for 26 years. Although Ugandan-born, Mr Bukumunhe and his father were given indefinite leave to remain in Britain by the British Home Office in 1981.

But the loss of original passports bearing a crucial Home Office stamp allowing him to live in Britain - and the lack of proof that these passports went missing in Uganda - has resulted in the two being left stranded in capital city Kampala. The family has enlisted the help of a London solicitor to appeal against the decision to refuse the visa.

Mark and Ignatius Bukumunhe arrived in Britain in 1979, the year which saw the overthrow of dictatorial Ugandan president Idi Amin by Tanzanian forces, leaving the country with a huge national debt and a badly-damaged agricultural sector.

The holiday was the first time Mr Bukumunhe had been back to Uganda in 26 years.

Via e-mail from Kampala he said: "My father and I are fortunate enough to be living in his brother's town house."

Mr Bukumunhe and his father both hold Ugandan passports, although the originals bearing the 1981 Home Office stamp were lost in Kampala, and were more recently replaced by passports without the essential stamps.

They were said to have been advised by the Home Office to request a re-entry visa once they arrived in Uganda - but this was refused.

"The lack of stamp in our current passports is the only reason we have been given for not letting us return home to Britain. How difficult can it be to check their own archives for this paperwork?" said Mr Bukumunhe.

His mother, Patricia, a British citizen, has returned home to West Bowling, and other members of the family have also returned.

Employer Paul Anning used contacts in the Rotary organisation in an attempt to make his concerns known to British officials in Kampala.

Mr Bukumunhe was educated at the former St Blaise Middle School in Bradford, and at what is today the Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College school in Tong. He later did voluntary work for a talking magazine for the blind and helped set up another talking magazine, Livewire, which still operates from the Cathedral Centre in Bradford.

He learned photography at the Cathedral Centre.

A spokesman for the Home Office said it cannot comment on individual applications. Gerry Sutcliffe, MP for Bradford South, confirmed he was discussing the issue with the Home Office.