A HEARTBROKEN shopkeeper has been told his Nigerian wife has been refused entry to Britain -- because officials believe their marriage is a sham.

Robin Haworth yesterday received confirmation from the Foreign Office that his wife would not be allowed to live in Britain because they did not believe the couple had married for the right reasons.

Mr Haworth, 53, who lives at his shop in Elmfield Street, Church, married Justina -- pictured with him on their wedding day -- in February in Nigeria, 20 months after he had proposed to her.

Their relationship dates from 1984, when Mr Haworth was working for Unilever in Nigeria. They became good friends, even after Robin returned to Britain, and romance blossomed after Mr Haworth's first wife, Phyllis, left him to devote her life to Buddhism in 1993.

Justina, 36, tried to apply for residency in Britain in April, and after spending more than a fortnight attending interviews at the British Embassy in Lagos, the couple learned that her application had been refused.

At the time, bureaucrats claimed Justina had given the wrong answers to some questions.

When pressed about which questions she had answered incorrectly, Mr Haworth says he was told Justina had said he drives a wagon when he actually drives a Volvo estate. The letter received by Mr Haworth yesterday told him officers in Lagos did not believe the couple would live together in Britain, adding that they did not believe the couple had married for the right reasons.

He said: "What they have basically implied is that either Justina married me just to get into this country or I married her just to get a wife.

"Both are wrong. We married because we were in love and I can't understand why they don't appreciate that.

"The facts should speak for themselves. This isn't a whirlwind marriage just for gain. I have known my wife for more than 15 years and we were engaged for 20 months before we married. She has turned down three other people for me and is in tears about this. We are being kept apart for no reason.

"I am deeply in love with her and she is in love with me. She is a staunch Catholic and believes in the sanctity of marriage."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope has now been enlisted to get the decision overturned, while a petition placed in Mr Haworth's shop, objecting to the decision, now has nearly 300 signatures.

Mr Pope said: "I have instructed Mr Haworth to appeal against the decision and I have written to the entry officer in Lagos, who made this decision, to ask him to reconsider.

"I feel very sorry for them both."