A British-born man, due to be put to death in the US next week, is set to have his appeal heard.

At 2000 GMT UK time, Suffolk-born Jackie Elliott's legal team will go before a hearing in Texas.

Elliott is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Texas on 4 February for the rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl in 1986.

Lawyers for the 43-year-old want the execution to be delayed to give time for the consideration of new DNA tests which may clear him.

Mother Dorothy Elliott came to Britain

His legal team said forensic evidence not used in the trial could show that while he was present when Joyce Munguia was murdered, he took no part in the crime.

Elliott is not expected to be at the hearing at the Travis County District Court in Austin, Texas.

Tory MP John Gummer, in whose constituency Elliott was born, visited Texas last week to ask authorities to give him more time to prove his innocence.

I've gotten more support from people in Britain than I've ever got here Jackie Elliott

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has written to Texas governor Rick Perry raising concerns about the execution and 134 MPs have signed a Commons motion urging Tony Blair to speak directly to US President George Bush on Elliott's behalf.

The son of a US serviceman, Elliott left England when he was six months old.

'British support'

He has said appeals from the UK have given him new hope that he may escape death.

"I've gotten more support from people in Britain than I've ever got here," he said.

"I was always proud of the fact that I was born in England."

His mother Dorothy and brother Robert came to Britain earlier this month to argue Elliott's case.

Texas State authorities have never responded to a foreign plea for clemency.