The child refugee whose story reduced Lily Allen to tears has been reunited with his father in Birmingham, after 10 years apart.
Shamsher Sherin, 13, was stuck in the Calais refugee camp after fleeing from Afghanistan.
Sherin told Allen his father had sold land to fund their departure because the family was in danger from the Taliban and Islamic State.
“I am so very happy,” he told BBC Midlands Today after being reunited with his dad. “Thanks for Lily Allen’s support. I go to school. Thanks for UK support.”
His father Hazrat Gul Sherin told the broadcaster: “There will be a lot of changing in my life. I want Shamsher to be like a good man and professional man in the future.”
Shamsher is one of dozens of child migrants brought to the UK this week.
Earlier in the month he had told Allen he was hoping to arrive in the UK via a lorry through the Channel Tunnel, explaining his paperwork was set to take four months to process.
A weeping Allen apologised to the boy “on behalf of my country,” adding: “It just seems that at three different intervals in this young boy’s life, the English in particular have put you in danger.
Allen faced a barrage of abuse for her comments, made during a film about the plight of unaccompanied children in the Calais Jungle.
As well as an online backlash, the mother-of-two was branded a “sobbing lovie” by the Daily Star, while the Express suggested she was spoilt.
Allen has tweeted of her happiness since Shamsher arrived in Britain.
