THE husband of a North-East woman who is due to give birth in 12 weeks has been refused entry to the UK.

Murat Aktas, 27, from Izmir, Turkey, married Elisa Hoy, from Darlington, last summer, and the couple discovered she was pregnant in October.

Since then, British officials have twice turned down his application for a visa to join his wife, claiming he would be unable to support himself or his dependants.

But Mrs Aktas, 24, who earns about £150 a week as a care assistant, has secured employment for her husband and a council house for the family on the Firthmoor estate.

"Murat can't get a holiday visa or a permanent visa, nothing," she said. "It's really gutting, just horrible for us both to be apart.

"Being pregnant doesn't help. There are all different little problems, which he's not here to help me deal with. I miss him so much."

Mrs Aktas, who has been with her husband, since May 2001, recently suffered a family bereavement and has been told by her doctor not to travel to Turkey.

"I don't know when I will see him again," she said.

"Murat is more gutted than me. He's really upset, knowing he won't be here for the birth and not knowing when he will see the baby. He's missed all the scans."

Mr Aktas's first visa application was turned down by the British Consulate in Istanbul on October 24, on the grounds that he had no accommodation or job in the UK.

Since then, Darlington Borough Council has granted Mrs Aktas a house and she has found him jobs with Firthmoor Association for Community Enterprise (Face) and a local restaurant.

The second application was turned down earlier this month, because the consulate was "not satisfied" the offers of employment were genuine or that Mr Aktas would not have "recourse to public funds".

The couple plan to appeal against the decision.

"I do get days when I sit and cry," said Mrs Aktas.

"But you've got to keep hoping. They have got nothing to refuse him for."

Mark Fabb, from Face, said the refusals were a violation of the couple's human rights.

He said: "They are basically being told they are too poor to have a relationship. It's an obscenity.

"The Government would rather create a single parent family than allow Murat to be with his wife and child."

Darlington MP Alan Milburn supports the couple and has twice written to the British Consulate asking it to reconsider.

"Mrs Aktas has worked hard to find employment opportunities for her husband," he said.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We never discuss individual visa applications. All we can say is that each application is considered very carefully and in accordance with Home Office rules.