with John Harrison Sanctuary
Last Christmas a black communist threatened with deportation slipped into the vestry of an Anglican church in Manchester.
Viraj Mendis is still there, claiming sanctuary against a Home Office deportation order to return him to Sri Lanka where he will face imprisonment, torture, even death. His protector, Fr John Methuen, is condemned by the Home Office as 'thoroughly irresponsible' for his continued defiance of the law.
Gerry Northam has been following this self-imposed imprisonment, and asks what makes an Anglican priest - and former chaplain at Eton - feel duty-bound to confront the authority of the state. Research PAUL SAPIN
Film editor RICHARD FRETWELL Producer BRIAN JAMES Editor COLIN CAMERON BBC North West