A British couple whose holiday villa is under threat from a Greek Cypriot laying claim to the land on which it is built face an anxious wait for the outcome of their legal bid to see him off.

After four days in London's High Court, Mr Justice Jack reserved his judgement in David and Linda Orams' case, saying he would give his ruling as soon as possible.

The court heard final submissions from the Orams' QC, Cherie Booth, who urged the judge to throw out Meletios Apostolides' bid to enforce a Nicosia court ruling against the couple, from Hove, giving him possession of the disputed land.

She argued that the Nicosia decisions had no practical value in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), due to Southern Cyprus's "lack of effective control" in the island's northern sector.

For the English courts to enforce the Nicosia rulings against the Orams' assets in the UK would be to enforce justice "by the back door", she submitted.

Ms Booth wife of British premier Tony Blair said the Nicosia court had now given its definitive decision on the case but told Mr Justice Jack that "the burden" of finding a practical resolution had now passed to him. She claimed Mrs Orams had been denied sufficient time to mount an initial defence in the Nicosia court.

Concluding, she said the judge had to consider whether he was obliged to enforce an order which related to land outside the European Union, given that the Republic of Cyprus is part of the EU but the TRNC is still out on a limb.

Ms Booth's remarks came at the end of the Orams' High Court appeal against the "registration" of the Nicosia court's judgement, which ordered the couple to demolish the £160,000 villa, swimming pool and fencing which they built on the plot in Kyrenia and relinquish the land to Mr Apostolides.

Mr Apostolides, 56, claims the land is rightfully his since his family was uprooted from it by the Turkish invasion of 1974.

The Orams' bought the plot in good faith with their retirement funds.

They claim an adverse judgement could result in Mr Apostolides going after their assets in the UK in the shape of their matrimonial home in Hove.