THE PLIGHT of a young Afghan refugee and a Guiseley man's attempts to smuggle her to England are being highlighted in a fundraising song.

Rob Lawrie faced being sent to jail after an unsuccessful attempt to bring four-year-old Bahar Ahmadi over to England from the notorious 'Jungle' camp in Calais.

But the former soldier walked free from a French court in January after being given a suspended fine of 1,000 euros (£750).

Mr Lawrie, 49, is determined to carry on his voluntary work helping the refugees and is battling to bring Bahar – known as Bru – to the UK legally.

Now a charity he is setting up for child refugees has been given a boost with a fundraising song released by musician Alex James.

The song – Home Sweet Home – and accompanying video are being released worldwide, and Rob and Alex are planning to visit Bru in France later this month to play the video to her.

After watching the video and listening to the song this week, Rob said: "I love it and I am a bit humbled.

"Every single penny will go to helping child refugees – no-one is making money out of this."

He described his relief after the suspended financial penalty from the French court.

"I remember my knees buckled because I had literally prepared myself for an 18-month term," he said. "I was very happy with how the court case was conducted."

Mr Lawrie revealed he is working with a human rights lawyer and is submitting an application to the Home Office for Bru to be able to come to the UK.

He stressed the awful conditions in the camps, which were impossible to imagine for anyone who hadn't been there.

"You have got to smell the human stench of urine because there is just no sanitation," he added. "And I remember going to Costco and spending about £600 on bottled water because I came across a group of kids drinking out of puddles.

"Bru is just a four-year-old child living in these conditions, and this situation is replicated thousands of times."

He urged the Government to take refugee children into the UK instead of leaving them in the camps "to rot".

Alex, who is a student in Manchester, has been to the Jungle twice and has previously written a song – Place Of Nowhere – about the refugee crisis, which can be found online at the https://youtu.be/9mRkaL3LEIw web p[. Visit https://youtu.be/cdXf_opTeZc to listen to Home Sweet Home.

He said: "I saw this story about Rob and it really got to me. Music is a way of expressing and explaining an issue like this.

"Hopefully, it will be successful – I would like to raise as much as possible."