2005 mini cooper S Driver door will not open

[framkiss1]

Hello All.
I have been offline for a while but I am back.
My 2005 mini driver door will not open from the inside or the outside.
I was able to remove the door panel to see what was happening to no avail.
The door unlocks with the key and the key fob but the door will not unlatch using the inner door handle or the outer door handle.
The cable from the inner handle is attached but when I pull the door handle the door does not unlatch. The same goes for the outer handle.
Is there a way to manually unlatch the door so the I can remove the door lock/ actuator?
FYI: the battery died a while ago and I had to get a locksmith to open the door in order to manually open the trunk to replace the battery. I do not know whether the locksmith did any damage to the door lock mechanism while he was unlocking the door. The door worked fine prior to the battery going dead
HELP. I am too old to be schlepping across the center console from the passenger side.
Thanks.