A Darlington woman is facing New Year without her Tunisian husband because the British authorities will not allow him to enter the country.

Jacqueline Ferjani, 27, has made a complaint to the Foreign Office about the way her husband, Abdel Kader Ferjani's visa application was dealt with.

The immigration authorities refused Mr Ferjani entry to the country because they were not satisfied that the marriage was real, that he could support himself without claiming benefits and because he has a criminal record.

But Mrs Ferjani, a cleaner, says the relationship is genuine and that she can support her 22-year-old husband. She is already sending money to him in Tunisia.

She plans to ask Darlington MP Alan Milburn for help and has instructed a solicitor to appeal against the decision.

She said: "My husband wants to work. He is not seeking asylum and will not be trying to claim benefits. It is so frustrating when you think of the people who are allowed into this country.

"The way we were treated and questioned by immigration staff was appalling."

The couple met in a caf last year when Mrs Ferjani was on holiday in the African country with her daughter, Teigan, five.

She moved to Tunisia and got married in August, but decided to return to the UK because she could not find work.

"I was devastated. To leave him there was very hard, very emotional," said Mrs Ferjani, whose haulier father, John Desmond Ward, from Barnard Castle, was killed in a road crash in France in 2000.

"He is now my husband, I am now his wife and we have got a family and we need to build on that."

Mr Ferjani plans to adopt Teigan, who no longer sees her natural father, and she has taken his surname.

Teigan's headteacher, Maureen Dixon, from Dodmire Infant School, has written to the immigration service.

She said: "Her mum was saying that she would have to take her out of school to visit her dad. I wrote a letter to say we don't want her to miss school."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We never discuss individual visa applications.

"Each application is considered very carefully and in accordance with Home Office rules."