A POPULAR 14-year-old Lithuanian girl, who was forced to return to her homeland yesterday, has thanked the people who fought to keep her in Southampton.

Yesterday, in tears, Aleksandra Razina (pictured) and her mother Liubov left Britain despite a campaign to let them stay in the country.

They were deported after the Home Office rejected their bid for political asylum.

The move has split the teenager's family in two. Aleksandra's father Alexander and older sister Ksana have been allowed to stay in the city.

Today, Ksana, 23, told the Daily Echo: "Before Aleksandra left she said she wanted to say thanks to everybody who has tried to help her."

Aleksandra came to Southampton at the beginning of the year, settling with her mother in Tunstall Road, Thornhill.

The teenager enrolled at Woodlands Junior School and joined the local army cadets. When the Home Office moved to deport her, pals in the No 5 Itchen troop and school friends collected a petition calling for the whole family to be allowed to stay in Southampton.

Aleksandra's older sister Ksana, 23, is heart-broken that her sister and mother are being sent back to Lithuania.

She arrived with her father Alexander, who is divorced from her mother Liubov, prior to her sister's arrival.

"I am very worried about them going back to Lithuania. We are Russian and Russians are not popular in Lithuania since the break-up of the Soviet Union."