they were genuine couples in love and agreeing to allow the ‘bogus’ marriages to take place.
But a registrar, suspicious about the number of Nigerian men marrying women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic tipped off police, who uncovered a major conspiracy.
After making covert recordings, they made a series of arrests on the day of a double wedding in July, taking a groom into custody at a motorway service station on the way to the ceremony and arresting two ‘brides’ dressed in wedding gowns outside a church.
On Tuesday, Judge Peter Collier, QC, told the seven defendants who admitted offences at Leeds Crown Court they had ‘carried out an assault on controls of immigration in this country.’
The scam involved African immigrants paying up to £15,000 each to ‘fixers’ to arrange for them to marry a woman from Europe so they could stay in the country legally.
They evaded the stringent checks associated with civil ceremonies by applying to marry in church because procedures to prove the authenticity of couples are less rigorous.
Information about the ‘legal loophole’ was even available on the Home Office website, the court was told.
Three years ago, the rules applying to foreign nationals wanting to marry in the United Kingdom (UK) were changed because the number of sham marriages was spiralling.
They were forced to apply to the Home Office for a ‘certificate of marriage approval’ before they could wed and that involved a high-level of proof of identity that was difficult to cheat.
The prosecutor, Tom Klouda, said the group involved in the scam avoided this bureaucratic hurdle and having their banns read publicly in church by applying to Church of England officials for a common marriage licence.
They produced forged utility bills or bank statements as well as fake identity cards and passports and perjured themselves by swearing affidavits to show they had been attending the parish for 15 days and were therefore qualified to marry in church.
But a church warden in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, became suspicious of several couples and told the diocese church registrar Julian Gill, who was responsible for granting the licences to marry.
The court heard that one Nigerian paid £4,000 for his bogus marriage.
The ‘facilitator’ and key figure in the conspiracy was Adeola Orobiyi, 28, a Nigerian who claimed that his parents had African royalty.
Orobiyi had a ‘sham’ marriage himself before beginning to set up similar ceremonies for others, the court heard.
Police found ‘a wealth’ of documentary evidence in his car linking him to one marriage that had already taken place and around six proposed weddings.
Orobiyi admitted that he was involved in arranging the weddings, but denied being the prime organiser.
He was jailed for three-and-a-half years for conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and possession of false passport.
Drug addict Dennis Baiger, 26, was a Czech national who was paid for his partner to be a bogus bride. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years for conspiracy and supplying heroin.
Another Nigerian, Peter Abbey, 27, who paid for a marriage, was jailed for 12 months for having a false passport and perjury.
Richard Okunade, 35, also paid for a fake marriage but did not have the courage to go through with the application and was replaced by his cousin Adesola Adewole, 29.
They received 12-month jail terms. While the brides Lucia Koncekova, 25, and Veronika Horvathove, 21, who were arrested before the weddings, escaped jail because they both have two young children.
Lucia and Veronika were given 12-month suspended prison sentences and ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work.
Outside court officers from the UK Border Agency said the ‘loophole’ making it easier for bogus church marriages to go ahead still existed, although work was being done to improve checks and tackle the problem.
Police said similar scams could be taking place elsewhere. One officer said: “This could be a very serious problem going on right across the country, we just don’t know how many of these sham marriages there are.”
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