BARRY Collier s wife is finally set to be by his side – more than two years after they got married. His wife Luz is set to fly into Heathrow Airport on Wednesday morning after winning her appeal for a visa, leaving her free to move to Wisbech from her hom

BARRY Collier's wife is finally set to be by his side - more than two years after they got married.

His wife Luz is set to fly into Heathrow Airport on Wednesday morning after winning her appeal for a visa, leaving her free to move to Wisbech from her home in the Philippines.

It has been a long fight for Mr Collier, of Money Bank, Wisbech, after Luz's original application for a visa was refused 12 months ago for a number of reasons, including an age difference of 33 years.

But 69-year-old Mr Collier said: "I was not going to give up, I did not marry to abandon her over there.

"Once she gets here I need to book her in with things such as the dentist, but once we settle down we should proceed quite happily."

Mr Collier was first introduced to Luz through friends and proposed to her early in 2004. They held a traditional church service in November 2004, but that was declared void because relevant documents did not arrive in time; so they married officially in the Philippino equivalent of a town hall on December 17, 2004.

But Mr Collier had been limited to two six-month visits over the past two-and-a-half years, the most recent being between April and October last year.

He said: "It was wrenching the first time I had to leave but when I had to leave in October I started to get a bit despairing and started to wonder how long this would go on for."

But in November Mr Collier received a letter saying Luz had won her appeal and was free to move to the country once she had received her visa.

And he said: "Earlier this month she (Luz) had a phone call asking her to send her passport to the British Embassy and a couple of weeks later she got it back so I went and bought the flight tickets to get her over to Wisbech.