An out-of-work electrician is to be deported back to Britain after running up thousands of dollars worth of hospital bills.

But 67-year-old John Godbert will devote his new life in England to a mission to track down two long-lost daughters.

Wheelchair-bound Mr. Godbert, laid off from work in September 1995, was due to return home for the first time in 17 years yesterday.

But Immigration Minister Quinton Edness granted him an 11th-hour reprieve last night -- valid for just one month.

Welshman Mr. Godbert wrote to the Minister asking for extra time before heading out of Bermuda on a one-way ticket.

And he told The Royal Gazette from his hospital bed last night: "I desperately wanted to stay on here and work but they won't let me.

"At my age, I just won't be able to get a job back in Britain. And I've got no close family there at all.

"I'm divorced, I'm an only child and my parents were old when I was born. My mother would have been 104 last October and my father would have been 124 in March.'' Cardiff-born Mr. Godbert, of Sofar Close, St. George's, said he would not go back to his home town.

Instead, the former SG Electronics worker said he would probably settle in London and devote his time to tracking down his two daughters.

"I lost touch with them after splitting with my wife before coming to Bermuda,'' said Mr. Godbert, who has been in and out of hospital with leg ulcers since a motorcycle accident in February, 1995.

"Angela would be 43 now and Shirley would be 42. I know it will be damn difficult to find them but at least it's something I can aim for when I go back.

"After all, I haven't heard from either of them in ten years. But there's nothing for me in Cardiff any more. I basically have nowhere to go. I'll be classified as homeless.'' Mr. Godbert's return ticket to London has been held by social services staff at the hospital for weeks.

He added: "I suppose it's true that I have run up thousands of dollars in hospital fees.

"At my age, the Government pays so much towards it. But I have not been well.

I've been trying to work but they won't even let me apply for jobs.

"And it's hard to get yourself together when you're flat on your back in hospital.'' He said he had made countless failed appeals to Mr. Edness and Cabinet Secretary Leo Mills.

But Mr. Edness told The Royal Gazette that Mr. Godbert had now been given another month to end his time in Bermuda.

"I've known John for many years, in fact since he came to Bermuda,'' said Mr.

Edness. "In fact, he was a very talented repair man. But he hasn't been at work for at least two years now and he's been in hospital for a very long time.

"He's incurring enormous bills there. And he had been asked to leave Bermuda going back as far as last July.

"Efforts have been made with the social services in England to take care of his welfare.

"The fact is that he's not able to work and it will be better for him to go home where he can be looked after.

"John wrote to me asking for another month to settle his affairs and I accepted that last night, so he will not have to leave as scheduled.

"We will give him a new date to return, one month from now, but he's getting to the stage where he needs more and more attention, more and more care.

"I've actually visited him in hospital and spoken with him but I also know his contract has been up for a long time and he should not be expected to continue in this Country.'' Quinton Edness GOVERNMENT GVT