The North-East factory worker who married a Russian woman through a Tyne Tees Television programme is desperate to raise the money for flights to bring his new family to this country.

Malcolm Bunting, 56, sold his car to finance his trip to St Petersburg for the wedding earlier this month.

Now he is trying to find the £1,000 he needs for flights for wife Iolante and her two children, Alexander, 11, and Katie, seven, to join him at his home in Tyneside.

"All the paperwork is now complete. They have passports and visas, and I was hoping they would join me by the middle of next month," said Mr Bunting.

"I've sold my car and everything to get this far, and I'm struggling to find any more money. I'm getting desperate. It's causing me sleepless nights."

The couple met when divorced Mr Bunting - after failing to find a partner closer to home - went to Russia as part of the documentary series Brides Abroad.

He met and proposed to divorced music teacher Iolante within days of arriving in St Petersburg.

Mr Bunting works as a packer on a production line in a factory at Blaydon. He is also caretaker at a Tyneside cemetery, where he lives in a house in the grounds.

He has approached loan companies to borrow the money, and asked airlines to sponsor the flight, but with no success so far.

"I don't know what else I can do," he said.

"I'll be very disappointed if I can't get them over here next month."

The newlyweds are keeping in touch with each other through daily e-mails and telephone calls.