The following piece is copied from the 24th June edition of the Tavistock Times. Many thanks to Roger Malone for allowing us to reprint it here. Derek adds his own comments at the end of the article.

	Derek (left) and Imacullee

ove has triumphed despite a nightmare battle against bureaucracy for Derek Perry and his Rwandan bride-to-be.

For two years Derek, from Tavistock, has been struggling to bring his fiancée to Britain. Two applications made in Rwanda were refused. But miraculously the decision was overturned at a Home Office appeal he attended at Bath County Court last week.

The Home Office granted entry visas to Imacullee, 29, and her seven-year-old daughter Stella to come to the UK - and he hopes they will join him in Tavistock next month.

Derek, 46, said: 'It was incredible. Our solicitor said it normally takes a minimum of 50 minutes, but it was over in less than 15 minutes.

'Imacullee and Stella have permission to come over for two years. This is an entry visa for a wedding and then in two years' time it will be assessed again. If we prove that we are OK she will get an indefinite visa.'

A member of Tavistock Community Church, Derek first began communicating with Imacullee in 1998 through his role as the church's project co-ordinator for GLAM - the Great Lakes Africa Mission.

e was trying to get pen-pals for the children at King's in Pixon Lane and she was doing the same for the children at Kigali - where Tavistock Community Church has been involved in setting up a hospital, clinics and schools for the locals in post-genocide Rwanda.

'After writing a couple of letters to one another they stopped being about pen-friends and became more personal. It happened without us realising that we were both falling in love,' said Derek.

'In 1999 I decided to pop the question in one of the letters and she wrote back and said yes!'

Both practising Christians, they decided to take time to build their relationship.

'We wanted to wait until things were right for the both of us. That is why I went out in 2002. I had met her mother, Chantal Kantamara, when she came to Tavistock in 2001 with Bishop Sadiki as guests of TCC pastor Colin Bond.'

Although they wrote, sent e-mails and texted each other daily it was three years before Derek to Rwanda to meet Imacullee. During his visit he asked permission to marry and her mother gave it.

The couple plan to marry in Tavistock register office followed by a service at Tavistock Community Church performed by Pastor Bond.

Derek says they stay for three to four years before returning to Africa to devote themselves to missionary work..

In their fight to live together in Britain the couple have had the help and support of West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett and his wife, Billie.

Mr Burnett said he had been 'extremely touched' by the plight of Derek and his fiancée.

'I'm delighted that they can now be together and I wish them every happiness. It is one of those many occasions where being an MP is extremely fulfilling.'