'My mum has been refused visa to attend Christening'

Tutu Melaku runs a community cafe and restaurant in Reading

A British woman has said it is an "injustice" that her elderly mother will not be able to attend her great-granddaughter's Christening after she was denied a visa.

Tutu Melaku, from Reading, has been trying to get her mother over from Ethiopia for 10 days in January.

Ms Melaku, a restaurant owner who has lived in the UK for more than 30 years, was informed her mother's visa was denied because there was "no guarantee she is going back".

The BBC has contacted the Home Office for a comment.

Ms Melaku paid £134 for the visa application but was informed it had been refused and she had no reason to appeal the decision.

She said the media has had a "big impact on people like me to bring my family to this country".

She added: "I know because of the media they think everybody who comes to this country they don't go back."

Ms Melaku runs Tutu's Ethiopian Table in Palmer's Park, Reading, and has previously been awarded for her community work.

She said: "I have a business, I am a community champion, I respect the law.

"I know they don't know me, like what I do for a living but I send all my documents, they can check who I am."

'Proudly British'

The British passport holder who has two children who have been raised and educated in the UK says "this is my home now".

"We are British and especially me, I am so proud to be British," she said.

She said her mum has lots of friends and "a big family" in Africa and would not have that community if she were to come to England.

Ms Melaku said her mother had visited the UK four times in the past and returned to Ethiopia every time.

"They refuse her just to come for 10 days to see her great-granddaughter," she said.

"She has to come because this is an injustice," Ms Melaku said.

She said she has appealed to her local MP, Labour's Matt Rodda, for support.

Mr Rodda has been approached by the BBC for a comment.