SUPPORTERS of a Kiwi sports coach facing deportation from his Eden home are pinning their hopes on a last ditch legal plea to allow him to stay in the UK.

New Zealand-born Kerry Hurst has lived and worked in Kirkby Stephen for more than seven years but an alleged "bureaucratic blunder" over his visa application has left him facing deportation from his adopted homeland.

His application to stay in the UK has twice been rejected and the situation came to a head in November last year when immigration minister Liam Byrne was due to make a decision on Mr Hurst's fate However, according to MP for Penrith and the Border David Maclean - who has taken up Mr Hurst's case with the Government - the New Zealander's application has once again been rejected.

Despite this Mr Maclean has vowed to keep fighting Mr Hurst's corner and said that a legal challenge to the decision could be his only hope.

A spokesman for the Immigration Service declined to comment on Mr Hurst's case but said: "We have been clear that we shall remove those who have no right to be here and will seek to do so as soon as possible."

Full story in this week's Westmorland Messenger.