How lover’s chatroom became a jail

IT’S a love story for our times that started in cyberspace - and perhaps should have stayed there.

Romantic American Kevin Barber quit Nashville for Ayrshire to live with a woman he fell in love with over the internet. But the path of true love never runs smooth, particularly when immigration officials are involved.

Barber’s dream of an idyllic new life with Liz Smale turned into a nightmare when he was locked up in Dungavel detention centre for illegal immigrants for a week, and threatened with deportation.

Smale, 34, from Irvine, was already separated from her second husband when she ‘met’ Tennessee bachelor Barber, 33, in an internet chatroom in April last year.

Smale said: "I’ve been married twice and have four children and I really wasn’t looking for love. I went into the chatrooms for company, for a laugh. But when Kevin and I got talking, it really hit me that he was my soulmate."

Barber was equally smitten. "I was working, rushing home to get on the computer or the phone and that was it until it was time to go to bed."

The devastating air strikes of 11 September brought them even closer as they talked about their mortality and fears of a world war, so they decided to "marry" in their chatroom.

The following month, Barber could no longer bear the distance between them. "I had a good job, lots of family and friends nearby, a good life, but I wanted to be with Liz. I quit the job and sold everything I owned to raise money to support me in Scotland because I knew I couldn’t work, and bought a ticket."

Smale said: "When we met, we held each other for a long time, then drove home. It didn’t feel strange having him here. I felt as though he’d been in this house with me and my older children, Stephanie and James, every day for six months. "

Barber’s six-month visitors’ visa was due to expire in April and immigration advised him to leave the country for a couple of days and return. But when he arrived back from a trip to Amsterdam, officials at Glasgow Airport refused to let him back in and he was given four days to arrange his return to the US.

After 10 weeks back home, Barber could stand the separation no longer and boarded a flight to the UK. But once again he was refused entry and told he would be deported the next day and given a document stating he had no right of appeal.

Smale had to wait at the airport as Barber was grilled by immigration. After five hours, she was given a plastic bag containing presents Barber had brought for her and the children. They included an engagement ring, which Smale had to put on herself.

Barber was sent to Dungavel to await deportation the next day. He said: "I was struck dumb when I realised I was arriving at a jail. The wardens couldn’t believe they were taking in an American, and I owe the fact I’m still here to one of them. He said that the ‘no right of appeal’ direction was nonsense.

"He took a big risk for me and faxed a lawyer. Once I knew I had legal support, I had the confidence to refuse to get on the plane next morning. I was taken back to Dungavel and spent six pretty awful days there."

Barber shared a six-bed dormitory with five other men. "One was from Pakistan and another from China. The rest had no English so I wasn’t sure."

"One day, I had a bit of a row with another guy. I don’t know where he was from but he was Muslim and walked around listening to prayers on his headset. He told me that America was responsible for all the horror in the world. He supported Osama bin Laden and said the US had caused thousands of deaths in countries like Iraq."

" I can’t over-emphasise how shocking it is when you are used to freedom to lose it, and I didn’t know when I’d be at liberty again." Liberty arrived after Smale managed to raise 1,000 bail money.

Barber said: "Now we have until September 25 at most before there will be an appeal hearing to decide whether immigration were wrong to refuse me entry. If it goes against me, I’ll have no option but to return to the States."

The couple hope to marry, which would help Barber’s status. But Smale’s divorce from her second husband is not yet complete. "We’re praying for compassion from the authorities. We were meant to be together," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said she could not comment on individual cases, however she denied that the forms saying detainees had no statutory right of appeal were misleading. They could appeal, however, if their human rights had been breached.