Quartet jailed for Reading bogus wedding scam

Alex Gore • Published 9 Feb 2010 16:48

A READING couple were among four people jailed today for their part in a sham marriage scam after a court heard how immigration officers swooped on the town's register office.

Reading Crown Court was told a registrar at Yeomanry House handling the bogus wedding of a Chinese immigrant and an English woman with learning difficulties became suspicious and alerted the UK Border Agency.

The conspiracy was smashed when 22-year-old Swindon man Michael Wright arrived with his sister to marry 'groom' Ligang Qiao, 29, at the Castle Hill register office, on August 20 last year.

Wright admitted trying to sell his sister into marriage with Qiao, and the prosecution said that later the same day police officers arrested Li Fan, 33, and her boyfriend Bing Liu, 30, at their home in Erleigh Road, Reading.

The quartet met when they were working together in a burger bar and in 2008 Wright was paid £4,000 to marry Fan in another sham ceremony to allow her to stay in the country.

The court was told that in exchange for £8,000 Wright agreed to let his sister marry Qiao to boost his application to remain in Britain after his visa expired.

When they appeared in court in November, Wright admitted two offences of assisting unlawful entry into Britain, and he and Qiao each pleaded guilty to two charges of perjury.

Fan also admitted two counts of perjury and dishonestly obtaining leave to remain in Britain, while Liu pleaded guilty to attempting to assist illegal immigration into Britain.

Wright was jailed for four years, Qiao for 15 months, Fan for 18 months and Liu two years. Qiao, Fan and Liu were recommended for deportation at the end of their sentences.

After the hearing Det Insp Andy Cummins, of the UK Border Agency's South East Region Immigration Crime team said: "This was a despicable crime. Michael Wright attempted to exploit a member of his own family for his own financial gain. His motive was purely greed.

"The other members of the gang also sought to take advantage of a vulnerable woman for their own benefit. The sentences handed down today show how seriously we, and the courts, take these kinds of attempts to undermine our immigration laws."

Gareth Redmond, the agency's area director for the UK Border Agency, said: "This case shows there are now heavy penalties for those who try and abuse the marriage route."

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