A young British man is being kicked out of Canada for helping his girlfriend decorate her flat.

Tom Rolfe, 24, is accused of "doing a Canadian out of a job" because he did a bit of DIY.

He was locked up by immigration officials who found photographs of Tom and girlfriend Sam filling up cracks in the walls of her flat.

Tom was in Canada on a tourist visa and the pictures were used to prove he was working illegally.

Angry Tom said: "It is just ridiculous, I was just helping Sam to tidy up her flat before she sold it so we could get a place together.

"I was treated like a criminal and told I have eight days to get out of the country - it has wrecked our plans."

Tom, from Abergavenny, South Wales, hoped to open a dog rescue centre with Sam in her home city of Edmonton, Alberta.

He applied for a resident's permit and had to leave Canada to be processed going back through immigration control.

Tom and Sam, 27, drove 300 miles to Montana in the United States and then immediately back into Canada to get his new visa stamped.

But the pair were put through a three-hour ordeal and locked in separate rooms while officials searched their car and belongings.

Tom said: "They looked through the photographs on my camera and saw pictures of me helping Sam fill cracks in her walls where pictures had been hanging.

"They said that by doing that I was denying a Canadian person a job.

"I was completely staggered when they said I had eight days to get out of the country."

Sam appealed to her local MP in Alberta but was told Tom would have to leave Canada for 28 months before he can return.

He was packing his bags to fly home today with Sam planning to follow him in a few months time along with their two dogs.

Tom said: "I'm done with Canada now. I thought they were part of the Commonwealth so I'm surprised to be treated like this.

"We have had to completely revise our plans all because I did a little bit of DIY around the house for my girlfriend."

Tom met Sam in Indonesia in 2013 after going travelling following his father's tragic death from a brain tumour.

He plans to settle in Bristol when he returns to the UK this week and is already looking for somewhere for him and Sam to live.

A Canadian Border Services Agency spokeswoman refused to comment on Tom being booted out of the country.

She said: "We do not provide any specific information on any traveller's entry or status in Canada due to Canadian privacy laws."