As Steve Pumfrey signed his daughter's sixth birthday card, he could only cross his fingers and pray she receives it. He has not seen her since February.

With the card, Steve, 33, enclosed photos of Tayla's aunts, cousins and grandparents.

Steve, a plumber, makes up a birthday package for Tayla in his quiet Peacehaven bungalow every year to send to Finland, where she lives with Steve's Finnish ex-wife Tiina.

Despite winning joint custody in a Finnish court, he has never spent a birthday with his little girl and has spent only ten days with her in the past year.

Her birthday is tomorrow but has no idea when he will see his daughter again.

Steve said: "I miss her so much. I send her gifts and cards every fortnight. I don't want her to forget who her daddy is. I have to keep sending her pictures of myself and my family. I hope she gets them and they don't go in the bin.

"All I want to do is see my daughter regularly and be a father to her."

Steve met Tiina in 1996 when he was working at her flat in Brighton.

A year later they were married and living in Hove. Tiina gave birth to Tayla in Worthing Hospital in September 1997.

In August 1998, with the marriage in trouble, Tiina went for a three-week holiday to Finland with Tayla.

They did not come back.

Steve said: "I went to Finland to try to save the marriage. I came home but went back a month later to spend Christmas with them.

"Then it became clear we were not going to get back together.

"I was absolutely devastated. I didn't want my daughter to grow up without me."

The couple divorced in 1999 and Steve started travelling to Finland several times a year to see Tayla.

Despite winning joint custody, on some visits he saw her for just a few hours. At other times, he says, he would fly the 1,100 miles on a pre-arranged visit to be turned away at the door.

After spending thousands of pounds on legal fees and flights, he was given permission by the Finnish court to see his daughter in England for four weeks a year - two in February and two in August.

Tiina was to accompany Tayla on all visits. They visited Steve in Peacehaven in February and were due again on August 1 but Tiina kept delaying the trip and it never happened.

A couple of weeks ago Tiina ended contact with Steve. He has not spoken to Tayla by phone for a month and has no idea when he will.

In the last four years he has tried everywhere he can think of for help, including International Social Services and the Child Abduction Unit, but he is still powerless to see his daughter. He does not even know if she is still living in the same town, Vantaa.

The only phone number he has for Tiina, a mobile number, no longer works.

He said: "All I want is for the court order to be enforced. But the attitude of the English and Finnish authorities is: 'You have a court order, now it's up to you to enforce it'.

"A child's rights have been taken away so early in life. I'm really disillusioned with the authorities. They haven't helped me.

"I can't afford to go to court again. I'm self-employed. I nearly bankrupted myself getting the court order and now they say I have to pay again.

"I have obeyed the law and gone through all the right channels. I've kept up with maintenance payments. And what have I got?

"I've got a court order which says I have joint custody but it's not worth the paper it's written on. It's so frustrating, it's driving me crazy.

"All I want is to see my daughter and she wants to see me. I miss her so much."

The battle has forced Steve to abandon his home in Third Avenue, Hove.

He moved back to Peacehaven to a cheaper house and to be near his family but still owes about £1,200 in legal fees, which he is paying off gradually.

He estimates he has spent more than £10,000, while running up credit card debts paying for flights to Finland.

Steve has had help from British charity Reunite, which specialises in international parental child abduction.

Denise Carter, director of Reunite, said an increasing number of parents were finding themselves in Steve's position.

She said: "A parent who is unable to maintain contact across international borders can sometimes use the Hague Convention or European Convention to help get the order enforced.

"Reunite has been advising Mr Pumfrey and will assist him if he chooses to take one of these options."

Steve said: "People say to me, why don't you go to Finland and get Tayla? But I couldn't do that to her. It could do her a lot of damage.

"It's not just me it's affecting. Tayla has family here - grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. It's not fair on any of us."