New fears for mum in deportation issue

THE pregnant mother who faces deportation and being split from her husband and baby daughter is facing an anxious wait to know her fate.

Rachel Nagle, 28, of St Andrews Square, went to the Immigration Appeal Court in Islington, London, on Wednesday to beg a judge not to rip her family apart. But he delayed the decision.

Her husband Mark, 33, said: "We don't know yet. The judge is considering the case. We are just waiting for that letter with our fingers crossed."

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Australian national Rachel came to Hastings on holiday in June 2002 and fell in love with Mark.

They married in April 2003 at Hastings Register Office after which she applied to stay in the country.

She was refused because immigration rules state she should have gone back to Australia to apply for a spouse's visa to stay permanently in the UK.

Rachel's appeal against the decision was finally heard this week after a wait of 14 months.

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In that time the couple have had their first child, eight month old Bethany, and Rachel is four months' pregnant with their second.

If Rachel was deported she fears she would have to leave behind Bethany and be split from her husband during pregnancy.

The couple went to the appeal hearing on Wednesday hoping to convince a judge not to let her stay.

They had no formal legal representation but Mark's father, Ian, from St Austell, Cornwall, spoke for them at the 45-minute hearing.

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Mark said: "It was great to have his support. It took the pressure off and he spoke well for us."

Melvina Quinn, clerk manager at the court, said it could take up to three weeks for a decision to be made.

Before the hearing Rachel said: "I just feel completely numb. I feel empty.

"We feel alone with nobody to help us.

"I wake up crying. I just don't know what will happen."

If ordered back to Australia, Rachel thinks it could take years for her to be reunited with her husband because she would have to raise their second child and would struggle to find a suitable job.

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Mark is a shop worker and it would be difficult for him to raise the money for her airfare back to England in a short period of time.

Rachel said: "If I was sent home it could take me years to get back here and see my husband.

"I would miss Bethany's first birthday and he would miss the birth of his second child."

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