IMMIGRATION officials in the US are preparing to deport a North-East man who sparked an FBI hunt when he went missing with his wife as they tried to patch up their troubled marriage.

Teesside-born Andrew Jones has finished a 30-day prison sentence for what US police described as "three misdemeanour offences".

One of the charges he pleaded guilty to when he appeared in court in St Helen's, Washington State, last Friday - a domestic violence assault - carries an additional mandatory punishment of deportation.

As well as the prison term, Jones, originally from Thornaby, was also fined about £1,000.

However, because he was held at Columbia County Jail for almost a month, he is already eligible for release.

Yesterday, he was being detained by the Immigration and Nationalisation Service (INS), which will send him back to Britain once officials have completed the necessary paperwork.

Richard Appichello, city attorney for St Helen's, said: "He will be ordered to leave the country. The domestic violence charge requires that.

"All the cases I have are resolved and he is just facing the INS proceedings now."

Mr Appichello also brought charges of contempt of court and interfering with the making of a report.

The contempt charges relate to Jones, 30, breaching conditions of an earlier sentence imposed after he assaulted his American wife, Amanda, 29.

He received a deferred sentence on the condition he did not get arrested again, drink alcohol, visit bars, leave the state or attack his wife. He was also ordered to attend anger management classes.

But just ten days after his original court appearance, Jones assaulted his wife and fled the country.

He returned last month and police in Rainier, Oregon, called in the FBI when Mrs Jones and her 18-month-old son, Justice Gallon, went missing.

They had not been seen for five days when their pictures were broadcast on television, and police told of Mrs Jones' family's concerns for her safety.

The couple had met in secret to try to patch up their rocky 12-month marriage and were unaware of the kidnap scare they had caused.

Armed federal agents surrounded their motel in Seattle and Jones was arrested at gunpoint. No charges were brought in relation to their disappearance.

Jones met his wife on the Internet in March last year and they married two months later after a whirlwind romance.

He lived in Rainier with his new family until last October when he was alleged to have fled to England to avoid court.