A DESPERATE Worcester man is trapped in Cyprus, unable to come home over an identity dispute.

James Spencer says he is unable to access healthcare and employment in Cyprus because he does not have a passport after the authorities withheld his passport after he changed his name.

He also says is suffering from health problems which he has been told could indicate cancer or intestinal problems but cannot access healthcare in Cyprus.

Mr Spencer said: "I'm out of money now. At the end of the year I will have to give up my apartment.

"I can't get a job, I can't claim benefits. I have got no choice but to rob someone or put myself in prison somehow.

"There I will get fed and looked after. That is what I will have to do. When I go to prison hopefully I will be deported."

Mr Spencer said: "They are saying they don't know who I am."

"What gives them the right to leave me stranded in a foreign country? I'm not allowed to work, I can't get money, I can't get any help. There are refugees here who can get more than I can."

Mr Spencer who went to Cyprus in 2017 to find his father, who is Greek Cypriot, is in dispute with the UK passport office.

Because he changed his name he has been asked to provide his original birth certificate, which he does not have, to prove his identity.

He has been unable to leave the country since then.

In 2017 Mr Spencer, who was working on the Mediterranean island in stocks and shares, wanted to change his name to Robinson Zacharia to fit in with his Cypriot roots.

He changed his name in Cyprus and sent his passport to the passport office in the UK for them to renew it. It has now been withheld.

A letter from the passport office says he has: "held several different passports in various names and dates of birth thus we are unable to determine your identity."

The ex Nunnery Wood High School pupil, who was known as Robin Nash at school, denies the claim that he has had multiple passports.

Mr Spencer said: “I have given them so many letters with all the information. All the people I went to school with know who I am.”

Mr Spencer was born as Robinson Zaccharias Chambers.

He was called Robin Nash at school, Nash being his stepfather's name.

When he was 30, he changed his name to James Spencer.

However, two years ago he decided to change his name to Robinson Zacharia, to fit in with his Greek Cypriot roots.

The 52-year-old has sent authorities pictures featured in The Worcester News when he was a baby, taken as he was born on Christmas day.

Mr Spencer who was once arrested as a 13-year-old for breaking into a school in Worcester, has offered to give authorities his finger prints as proof of his identity.

However, they will not accept this as proof.

Worcester MP Robin Walker is investigating the case but was unavailable for comment yesterday.