Kiltmaker's Thai bride wins battle to stay in Britain; Judge sides with journalist who painted her husband as a villain in her homeland.(News)

Byline: Andrew Drummond in Bangkok and Gavin Madeley

WHEN lonely businessman Dennis Booth turned to the internet in his search for companionship, he thought he had found love with his perfect Thai bride.

Romance blossomed after silverhaired Mr Booth, 67, started emailing and phoning 41-year-old journalist Kanokrat Nimsamoot and the couple eventually married in a lavish Scottish wedding.

But the match turned sour and she was deported back to her homeland - where she proceeded to use her media skills to vilify her husband and warn others about the dangers of marriage abroad.

Now it has emerged that Miss Nimsamoot has won a legal appeal against her deportation and will shortly return to Scotland to 'collect her belongings' - paving the way for a bitter confrontation with Mr Booth.

The couple had settled down in the Borders, where Mr Booth runs a kilt shop. But the relationship soon turned sour, with him accusing his wife of infidelity.

Matters had come to a head in May last year when she arrived back at Glasgow Airport.

She was trying to extend her UK residence permit before it expired, but UK Border Agency officers apparently learned that the marriage was over after talking to her husband and revoked the permit, locked her in a police cell overnight and then deported her on a flight back to Bangkok.

Back in her homeland, Miss Nimsamoot cast herself in the role of a champion of Thai women's rights, using her skills as a journalist to blacken the name of her estranged husband in a concerted and increasingly vicious media campaign. His avuncular features were plastered across television screens, newspaper stories and magazine articles, in which he was roundly condemned as a 'Dickensian bully' and an alleged 'control freak'.

Now, however, a judge has upheld Miss Nimsamoot's appeal against her deportation, ruling that she was unfairly treated. Senior Immigration Judge Gill ruled that the UK Border Agency officials did not have the powers to refuse her entry to Britain or cancel her residence permit.

The judge noted: 'Under [Immigration] EEA Regulations, nothing short of a divorce terminates a marriage.' Miss Nimsamoot welcomed the news yesterday. She said: 'Without any evidence I was accused of having an affair with another man, which was a lie, and I was humiliated. I was treated like a prostitute.

'I now wish to go back to Scotland, collect my belongings from my husband's house and go through proper divorce proceedings.' The couple started swapping emails in 2007. Within months, Mr Booth, who runs the Kilt Shop in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, flew to Thailand to meet his bride-to-be. He returned to Scotland with her in 2008 and they married.

But they separated last year amid allegations of her infidelity, fuelled by her frequent trips abroad. She claims the trips were innocent and involved visiting relatives and her sons from a previous marriage.

It is understood that when Miss Nimsamoot arrived in Glasgow last May, immigration officers contacted Mr Booth and were apparently told the marriage was over. Under UK law, immigration officers argued they have the authority to terminate marriage visas if it 'becomes apparent the marriage is no longer subsisting'.

In its initial refusal notice, the Border Agency stated that Miss Nimsamoot had come to see a man who was not her husband, and that the marriage to Mr Booth 'was no longer subsisting'. Furthermore, she had arrived in Britain without the knowledge of her husband.

Miss Nimsamoot agreed that there were problems with her marriage which needed to be sorted out, but claimed her husband was fully aware of her intended arrival. As he had said he could not pick her up from the airport, she was being met by a friend's husband. She denied an affair.

She appealed to the Home Office over the cancellation of the visa but this was rejected. However, Judge Gill upheld a further appeal to the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber.

Miss Nimsamoot maintains that she was surprised at her husband's actions, as just three months before she was deported he had sent her a romantic Valentine's Day message.

She said she had been touring universities in Thailand lecturing on the perils of taking on a foreign husband and indicated she would return to the UK when a new visa was formally granted.

CAPTION(S):

Women's champion: Kanokrat Nimsamoot

Shattered dream: The couple at their wedding