A TEARFUL Hampshire bride was told today that her Turkish husband will be thrown out of Britain.
Jacqueline Yalcin, 46, married 26-year-old Bulent just four months ago after a whirlwind romance.
But yesterday her dream turned into a nightmare when immigration officials turned up at her Hampshire home to deport him.
Now Jacqueline is facing up to the fact that the man she fell in love with last year is to be sent 1,500 miles across Europe.
She heard today that a last-ditch appeal on compassionate grounds for Bulent to extend his 18-month stay in Britain had been rejected.
Police and Home Office officials turned up at the couple's home in Africa Drive, Marchwood, yesterday demanding to see Bulent, who until the beginning of this year worked in a burger van in Bitterne, Southampton.
He is being kept in custody at Southampton police station with the only glimmer of hope that he might be allowed to spend a few days with his wife before boarding a plane bound for his homeland.
Jacqueline, who has four children from a previous marriage, was devastated by the news and hit out at the system which, she says, has treated her husband like a criminal.
"I spoke to him this morning," she said. "He sounded very down. He said he was really hungry and he's been sick and everything.
"He's still in custody but he was allowed to use the phone to speak to me for the first time.
"I'm trying to find out when they will release him but I'm not sure they will. He's just being treated like he's committed some offence. I'm not allowed to see him and he's not even allowed any cigarettes."
Neil Patel, of Dent Abrams solicitors, in College Place, Southampton, said Bulent had exhausted all his asylum appeal rights before the couple were married.
In April this year they made a last-ditched attempt to keep him in the country by lodging an appeal on compassionate grounds, saying the 26-year-old should be allowed to stay to keep his marriage together.
But this morning the firm had a fax from Southampton's immigration office saying the appeal had been rejected.
A Home Office spokesman refused to comment on Bulent's case but said there was no set criteria for appeals on compassionate grounds - each one is looked at individually.
However, he added: "We are quite upfront about the fact that we will remove people who are here illegally."
Jacqueline, a project worker for children with learning difficulties, added: "I really don't know what we can do. We have done it legitimately, contacted a solicitor, not been secretive about anything, not run off - we even sat in the garden together waiting for the police to come back and pick Bulent up. It almost seems like we're being punished for being honest."
The pair married in February after a whirlwind romance that started when they first saw each other in Southampton's La Margherita restaurant in July 2002.
Bulent was living with cousins at the time and the pair began going out. He moved into Jacqueline's home in December and popped the question around the same time.
Two months later they were married at a spectacular white wedding at Ringwood register office.
Bulent's family even celebrated with a party at their home in Iskenderun, Turkey.
"I'd be gutted if he went - absolutely devastated," said Jacqueline. "He doesn't deserve this. He's never had a penny of benefits.
"He was kept by his family when he first came here, then had a job on a burger van and now I look after him.
"He's quite proud.
"He's never wanted money off the state. All he wants is to be allowed to work."
Her daughter Samantha Monks, 20, also spoke out in support of her new step-father, who she says has been welcomed straight into the close-knit family.
"People say 'Here we go. She's 46, he's 26,' but it's not like that. He's absolutely besotted with Mum. He hates it even when she goes to work," she said.
"We were due to have a family barbecue today, but I don't think that's going to happen now."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article