A 39-year-old woman has been sentenced to 16 months imprisonment at Wolverhampton Crown Court after she pleaded guilty to participating in a sham marriage with a European Union national.
On 5 February 2014, Gurjit Kaur, a non-European Union national, got married at Shrewsbury Registry Office to Vladmir Gazi.
The Registrar became suspicious of the marriage as the bride and groom where unable to communicate with each other, there was littler interaction between them and they knew little about each other.
The police were informed and an investigation conducted, which resulted in eight individuals being arrested and convicted of participating in sham marriages. This included Vladmir Gazi and the ring leader Zafar Abbas. The gang were all jailed last year at Northampton Crown Court for a total of 16 years and eight months.
Kaur was eventually arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of immigration law.
Wendy Stevens, Senior Crown Prosecutor from the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service's Complex Casework Unit, said:
"By participating in a sham marriage, Gurjit Kaur tried to exploit the immigration system in order obtain a residence card which would have allowed her to settle in the United Kingdom.
"However, the Registrar became suspicious of the bride and groom and informed police who later uncovered a well organised gang which arranged bogus weddings between non-European nationals and Eastern European nationals.
"The CPS is working with our partner agencies to tackle such illegal activities and those caught in facilitating or participating in such scams will be robustly prosecuted."
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