A doctor is finally bringing his bride home to Huddersfield from the Ukraine after winning a tortuous immigration battle.

Stuart Oliver, 55, fell in love with Marina Pavlova, a divorced mother-of-one from Ukraine following a whirlwind internet romance.

She lives in Lugansk 30 miles from the Russian border which has a predominantly Russian-speaking population.

After a series of dates in England, Egypt and her homeland the Cambridge-educated medic proposed to her just three months after they met.

She accepted but since then the couple have had to make do with just Skype contact and occasional holidays as they battled to win permission to settle over here.

The immigration authorities nowadays take a very tough stance on anyone from Eastern Europe wanting to live here permanently but Stuart, of Forest Hill Gardens, Outlane, says he never gave up hope.

To help move the process along he even gave up on any plans to get married in England and instead wed Marina in her country.

Today he flies out to Ukraine for what may be the last time as the last part of the bureaucratic jigsaw fell into place.

After a series of farewell parties in Lugansk he should fly back to England on Wednesday, August 28, with his bride and her 11-year-old son Vladyslav, known as ‘Vlad’.

Stuart, a senior clinical research physician in Cheshire, said he is looking forward to being a father to a young boy again.

He has two grown up children from his first marriage.

Stuart, 56, said he was “delighted” the saga, which has been going on for more than 18 months, was finally coming to an end and was looking forward to introducing his wife to all his friends.

One of his first ports of call is likely to be Lindley Liberal Club where he plays chess for Huddersfield Chess Club.

He said: “I’m looking forward to introducing her and Vlad to everyone. It will be great for her to meet all the boys at last.”

And Marina will be able to help him brush up his Russian language skills.

He was so keen to woo his bride properly, he went back to the classroom decades after he left it to embark on a challenging course of study at the University of Manchester’s foreign languages department.