A man has made a heartfelt plea to attend the funeral of his long-lost twin brother, after the Government refused to fast-track his paper work.

Peter Darvall, 63, from Durrington, discovered his twin, Les, was living in South Africa, just before Christmas 2005, sparking a desperate attempt by him to obtain a British passport so he could travel to the country.

The pair, separated at birth, were both suffering from terminal illnesses, with Les too ill to travel, but the British Government refused to give Peter a passport because he failed to apply for citizenship when he arrived here from SouthAfrica in 1959.

Les died of cancer on Saturday leaving Peter, who himself has terminal emphysema, distraught and vowing to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Argus is now backing Peter's bid to get a passport so he can at least visit friends and family who knew Les if, as seems likely, he is unable to get to his brother's funeral on Friday.

Peter said: "They've taken away any time I could have had with Les and now I'm determined to force them to allow me to go and at least see Les's wife Virginia while I still have time.

"I've been after them for seven months to do something about it.

"I wrote begging letters to the Home Office because time was rapidly running out for both of us and they knew that. But they chose to ignore it.

"I said 'please, please let me and my brother be together at least once in our lifetime' but they refused to help.

"They've robbed me of any time with Les so I'm determined to take them to the Court of Human Rights to make sure I can at least go and see my brother's friends and family while I am still alive. It is so important to me."

Worthing MP Peter Bottomley said: "I completely regret the decision taken by the Passport Office not to give Mr Darvall a passport.

"It now looks as though he won't be able to get to the funeral service on Friday which is a tragedy.

"I hope it looks again at the case and finds a way of giving him what he wants."

Peter has had to battle to obtain a passport despite living in Britain for 47 years and working full-time, mainly as a butcher in the Worthing area.

The case was complicated because Peter came to Britain with a foster family on a false passport and never applied for citizenship.

Peter's foster family never told him about his twin brother from whom he was separated at birth.

It was only from a mysterious phone call, thought to originate from the South African embassy in London, that Peter found out about Les.

The Home Office said he would need to apply for citizenship first and then a passport.

However, the department refused to fast-track the process despite claiming to give priority for compassionate reasons.

The Home Office has refused to comment on Peter's case individually and said it could not reveal where his application for a passport and citizenship currently stood.