MANCHESTER, England, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A Nigerian man worked a double bluff to stay in Britain, marrying a legal Dutch resident and then having his partner assume his wife's ID, a court found.
All three were sentenced Friday in Manchester Crown Court, The Daily Telegraph reported. Judge Martin Steiger described the scheme as having "ingenious features."
Olukayode Olusanya, 34, got 32 months, and Zunica Sabina, 28, of Amsterdam got 16 months. Esther Ogunrinde, 30, was spared jail time because she has four children but received a 12-month suspended sentence and 180 hours of community service.
Sabina made a quick trip to England in 2008 to marry Olusanya at St. John's Church in Manchester. In return for 3,000 pounds ($4,500), she also left identity documents for Ogunrinde to use and reported them lost.
The marriage was a complete sham, prosecutors said. Sabina, who physically resembles Ogunrinde, posed for a wedding picture with Olusanya after the ceremony and then returned home.
Immigration authorities got a tip about the scheme last year and began an investigation with help from police in the Netherlands.
