A PRIEST and a senior police figure today joined the campaign for the return of a well-respected family of asylum seekers to Blackburn.

Illia Davydov, his wife and three children, were deported following a dawn swoop by immigration and police at their home in Cockridge Street, Livesey.

The children's teachers, a senior church figure, and friends have launched a campaign to pressure the government into letting them back into England.

They claim the Davydovs had been sent back to Israel because they were "easy targets" for a government left reeling after recent criticism of the immigration system. Already more than 150 people have signed a petition asking for the family's return and stating that their presence in England was a benefit to the local community.

And today the vicar of St Andrew's CE Church, Livesey Branch Road, the Rev Jonathan Milton; and the chairman of Lancashire Police Authority, Malcolm Doherty; threw their weight behind the campaign.

Mr Milton said: "They were a lovely family. I had looked forward to having them stay. It is very sad that they have gone.

"Illia came every Sunday and we noticed they had not been here and wondered what had happened to them."

Coun Doherty, a church warden at St Andrew's and a former governor of St Aidan's Primary School, Mill Hill, where two of the children attended, said he had a lot of sympathy with the Davydovs.

He added: "I have signed the petition and it seems to me that the process had not been properly gone through and they had not been allowed the rights they should have."

Mr Davydov and wife Galina, both 38, and children Illia junior, 14, Daniel, 10, and Brian, nine, arrived in England last October.

After registering with the National Asylum Seeker Support Service, they were sent to live in Blackburn.

The younger children were given places at St Aidan's, while Illia junior was sent to Witton Park High School Business and Enterprise College.

Mr Davydov, a former professional footballer, claimed asylum because he said the family was being persecuted in Israel due to their Christianity. They moved there 14 years ago from Russia.

He claims his car was blown up, his family were assaulted, and explosions were set off near his home.

The Davydovs are now living back in Jerusalem.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw has written a letter to Home Secretary Dr John Reid about the case, but will not know if anything can be done until he gets a response.