AS MOST families get together over Christmas, one youngster has given up hope of his father ever being able to join him and his mother at their home in Bolton.

Last year little Daniel Hellings, now three, captured readers' hearts when the BEN described how he recognised his dad from photographs alone and had only ever spoken to him on the telephone.

The paper revealed how it was the youngster's dream to be able to have his father home with him and his mother Leesa.

Nurse

Daniel lives in Farnworth with Leesa, but his dad remains thousands of miles away in Nepal.

Leesa Hellings, aged 36, was working with Buthanese refugees in Nepal when she met her "husband" Indian-born Ladhen Singh, who is also 36. Ladhen was working as a naturalist in a wildlife park, and Leesa was a nurse working for the Save the Children Fund as an aid worker. The couple "married" in a Buddhist ceremony in Ladhen's family home in Darjeeling. The lamas came from a local temple, to the home, to perform the ceremony.

Back in Nepal, Leesa is regarded as a married woman. But when she returned to England to give birth to the couple's son she discovered her marriage was not considered legal over here.

Ladhen was not allowed to join Leesa and Daniel in England because Leesa has been on benefits and was classed as unable to support him. He did visit once when Daniel was six months old for one month, but had to return.

Leesa was featured in the BEN desperately trying to save up enough money for Ladhen to visit Britain and for the pair to get married here.

But one year on, she told the BEN, her hopes had been dashed. She said: "I finally had to admit to myself we were never going to be able to live together. I have given up hope and decided it best to make the most of my life for Daniel's sake.

"Ladhen and I still keep in touch and he still is desperately trying to get here. He believes it will happen, but I do not think it is a realistic option.

"I feel a bit numbed by the whole experience. Time was passing and we were getting no where, so I applied to go to university to better myself. I obtained a grant and am now on a year-long course at Leeds University doing a masters in public health.

"I think the system is very unfair. If I had been more devious with the authorities in the beginning, and worked the system, I think we would have got Ladhen here. But we told the truth and face one problem after another."

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