The Rector of All Saints Wokingham, The Reverend Canon David Hodgson, has called publicly for an end to the UK government practice of detaining children for immigration reasons at immigration removal centres.

In a sermon at All Saints Church on 28th December 2008 - the feast of Holy Innocents - he highlighted the damaging impact this practice has upon children and how brutal and pointless it is. He added his voice to the agencies and leaders who support the campaign. These agencies include The Children's Society - the Church of England's national children's welfare charity - and Bail for Immigration Detainees - which have been jointly awarded £1.25 million by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, to further the campaign under the title of "OutCry".

Read the sermon here 

The coalition government has made a commitment to end the immigration detention of children. See BBC report here

It is not clear that this promise has in reality been fulfilled - see here