A HEREFORD businessman has voiced his anger after his Russian girlfriend was refused entry into the UK.

Tibor Zsolt Pardi, a software engineer who manages his own business, Zolt Software Ltd, applied for a visitor visa for his girlfriend Natalya Pavlova, which was refused.

He feels so strongly, he has written a letter to home secretary John Reid, Hereford MP Paul Keetch and secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, Margaret Beckett.

The letter states: "I want to bring to your attention the practices, policies and decision-making processes that I strongly believe are humiliating, unfair, misleading and against the public interest of the UK.

"The visa application has been declined despite my best attempts at providing honest, detailed and comprehensive information about my sponsoring status."

It adds: "I find it offending and humiliating to assume that either I will assist in breaking the law or that Ms Pavlova is willing to break the law by not returning to her home to continue her job and support her parents."

The refusal note said Ms Pavlova had not "demonstrated any strong ties to Russia" and did not "intend to leave the UK at the end of the proposed stay".