A council worker from Zimbabwe fears she could spend her birthday in a detention centre.

Marjory Cook will report to the Home Office's immigration centre in Croydon as she celebrates her 48th birthday today.

Because she has been unable to obtain a UK visa for the past eight years, despite being married to an Englishman, she fears it could be the last time she sees her home in Emerald Quay, Shoreham.

Mrs Cook said: "I'm afraid of what they will do. They may detain me. I'm so depressed about it. I can't sleep or think."

Mrs Cook, a support worker for people with learning difficulties with Brighton and Hove City Council, came to England in 2000 to visit family.

She married her English husband Dave in 2003 but the Home Office will not recognise their marriage as legal because it happened after her temporary visa expired.

She has lived in constant fear of being forcibly returned to Zimbabwe where she says she could be killed because she is a member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which opposes the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Mrs Cook says her uncle was killed three weeks ago by Mugabe's henchmen and any remaining family in Zimbabwe is in hiding.

She said: "My son is due to get married in Buckinghamshire in two weeks. This was supposed to be a happy time for me and my family.

Then suddenly, something like this hits you and stops everything."

Last year she spoke out about how she was suspended in "legal limbo" because she could not leave the country for a holiday without a visa.

Today, she will report to the Border and Immigration office in Croydon and fears that by being law-abiding, she has made herself an easy target for Home Office officials.

Mrs Cook said: "They are taking advantage of the fact I'm living a law-abiding life because I have tried to remain here legally. I feel that if I had stayed quiet they would not have bothered me and my husband."

The Home Office is temporarily prevented from deporting Zimbabwean asylum seekers after a court of appeal ruling involving the test case of a Zimbabwean doctor known as HS. She claims her association with the MDC opposition party means her life would be endangered if she were forcibly returned.

A full hearing of the case has been postponed pending the outcome of a related immigration application due to go before the House of Lords. The result has delayed any deportations to Zimbabwe for the moment.

But the ruling does not prevent people being detained in centres around the country.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "We don't comment on individual cases.

It's usual for us to require individuals to report as part of their contact management regime which ensures each applicant has a reporting regime that suits their individual circumstances."

Has the Home Office treated Mrs Cook fairly?