A fake bride who has been jailed for her part in a sham
marriage ring, tried to prove her romance was real by taking a series of
loved-up selfies at branches of McDonald's.
Hellen Adedjumo-Dani, 31, took photographs of herself with
her Hungarian fake partner sharing burgers and fries inside fast food outlets
to convince authorities of her relationship.
Investigating officers probing her case also found a
selection of mobile phone snaps of the pair posing inside different McDonald’s
restaurants across Birmingham.
The court heard of the extent pregnant Adedjumo-Dani had gone
to cover her tracks, and investigators even found pictures of the pair relaxing
in fluffy dressing gowns on a bed together- trying to look the picture of
domestic bliss.
She had even changed her partner’s name to, 'Babe' in her
phone to show her affection for him.
Adedjumo-Dani married her groom, who has not been named, at a
Birmingham registry office in June 2013 and she had a picture of her wedding
day saved on her mobile phone.
However, officers from the Home Office were not convinced by
any of the McDonald’s selfies and Adedjumo-Dani was found guilty after a
two-day trial in March this year.
She was jailed on Friday at Birmingham Crown Court for 22
months, along with three other brides and the main 'fixer' of the sham
marriages, 38-year-old Azuha Izegbune, who was crucial in setting up fake
weddings in order to grant to women visas.
Adedjumo- Dani, who is expecting a baby in October, has been
warned that she could face possible deportation once she completes her prison
sentence.
The court heard that ex-security guard Izegbune, from
Birmingham, was paid to arrange fake weddings between Hungarian and Nigerian
nationals so they could remain in the UK.
The weddings, staged at registry offices in Birmingham, Stoke
and Glasgow, were arranged so both brides and grooms could secure European Area
Residence Cards.
Some of the grooms were flown in to the UK just hours before
the fake ceremonies took place, with the scam exposed following a Home Office
probe.
Sentencing, Judge Elizabeth Stacey said Izegbune had
undermined the UK’s border controls and described him as 'the lynch-pin, the
organiser and the fixer' of an eight-month conspiracy between December 2012 and
September 2013.
She said: 'You met registrars, bought plane tickets, acted as
witness and interpreter and recruited Ivett Szanto to help you find Hungarian
grooms and brides.
'I have read the wonderful testimonies about you. It’s just
desperately sad that you have used your considerable charm and skills to take
part in these activities.'
Izegbune is himself married to a Hungarian and has lived
legally in the UK since 2009 with dual Nigerian and Hungarian nationality.
The father-of-two was jailed for 31 months after pleading
guilty to five counts of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration
law.
Meanwhile, Hungarian national Ivett Szanto, 31, admitted
taking part in one fake marriage with a Nigerian man who was also seeking a
visa.
She had conspired with Nigerian-born ringleader Izegbune to
help set up two further marriages with men she knew from her native Budapest.
Szanto had her sham marriage stopped mid-ceremony on May 30,
2013, in Stoke, Staffordshire, the court heard.
Sentencing her to 20 months, Judge Stacey said: 'Your role in
this was much more peripheral. You were a small cog in the wheel. It was
Izegbune who was directing you.'
The court heard the fake brides handed over an unknown amount
of cash in a bid to win the residence cards - which would have given them the
legal right to remain in the UK and Europe.
But two of the weddings were stopped halfway through and a
price list for a £7,500 ceremony was later recovered.
It showed just a £20 budget was allocated for the wedding
dress, rings and shoes.
Nigerian women Nwabunwanne Eze, 35, and Chioma Nwangwu, 28,
both from Birmingham, were all jailed for taking part in their own fake
marriages.
Sentence: Nwanunwanne Eze, left, was jailed for 17 months for
her attempted scam marriage in Glasgow - which was raided by investigators
Nwangu married her groom Birmingham registry office in June
2013. Eze attempted to marry at Glasgow registry office in August 2013 - but
the ceremony was raided by investigators.
She and Nwangwu pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching
immigration law and were jailed for 16 months and 17 months respectively.
The court heard that four members of Eze’s close family,
including her own mother, were murdered on their farm in Nigeria in 2009.
She had studied Health and Social Care at South Birmingham
College after arriving legitimately on a student visa in 2010.
She exhausted all the appeals to stay in the country and took
part in the sham marriage just before she would have been forced to leave the
country. She has since lodged an application seeking asylum.
Nwangwu worked in a bank in Nigeria before arriving in
Birmingham to study at Birmingham City University in 2011.
She returned home, but came back on a six-month visitor visa
and wanted to stay in the UK after that expired to be with her genuine partner
- a Nigerian who is legally in the country.
Culled from Daily Mail