A GWENT man is battling immigration officials to bring home the woman he married after a whirlwind romance in Thailand.

Lyndon Mathias, 46, of Queensway, Ebbw Vale, was holidaying in the country last August when he met 45-year-old Sai-Thong in Pettaya working in a coffee shop.

Mr Mathias told the Argus they befriended one another and very quickly became close.

"We saw each other every day, I had to go to hospital with chest problems while I was there and I wouldn't have managed without her," Mr Mathias said.

"I proposed to her in my hotel room two weeks later. She was surprised but nevertheless, three weeks after meeting we married in the British Embassy in Bangkok."

Mr Mathias says he has been fighting the British immigration system since August to get permission to bring Sai-Thong home to Wales.

He said: "I'm on the phone every day to different officials at the Home Office and both embassies. I've been to the embassy in Bangkok three times, I've got her a passport, I've opened her a bank account, but they won't let her come. It's not right.

"I spend up to £20 a day speaking to Sai-Thong on my 'pay-as-you-go' mobile phone. That only lasts about 15 minutes. It's very difficult as we miss each other so much, she cries down the phone and asks me to give her a kiss.

"Sai-Thong has never flown before, she has never left her country, but I think she would love Wales. Most of all she wants to be with me."

Mr Mathias, an ex-steel worker, now lives on benefits because he was registered blind after an accident on an oil rig.

He said: "I've been to visit since we were married and am planning to go again soon. I try to find the cheapest flights because it's a costly business.

"I've spent £18,000 in flights and supporting her and her family, it's cost me everything. I'm trying to help them as much as I can."

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "We do not comment on individual cases of immigration and asylum."