A Turkish chef desperate to be reunited with his Brighton bride lost all his wedding souvenirs, love letters and clothes when his home was destroyed by fire.

Ayhan Oghan, 26, awoke to find the house ablaze but managed to escape into the snow in just his boxer shorts and vest.

The Argus has previously revealed how he married Brighton Sunday school teacher Jacalyn Boyes last November after a whirlwind holiday romance.

His attempts to secure a visa to move to England were delayed by a suicide bombing attack on the British consulate in Istanbul last November.

He had a meeting yesterday with officials at the American Embassy, which is helping deal with the administrative backlog caused by the bombing.

Mr Oghan, who has been working in a restaurant just outside Istanbul, is now staying with a colleague.

Mrs Oghan, who runs the Sunday school at St Mary's Church in Rock Gardens, Brighton, said: "I'd only just been speaking to him on the phone. He was saying how he was shivering with cold because the heating wasn't working properly.

"We could do with a bit of positive news from the embassy after all that has happened."