London:
An India-born mastermind of a UK-wide sham marriage scam has been jailed for four years and 20 weeks by a court Wales after being caught at his own fake marriage.
Cardiff Crown Court heard how police investigated Harpal Singh after registry officers became suspicious when he turned up in the Welsh capital of Cardiff to marry last May.
The 51-year-old was found with identity documents and passports in several different names.
It was also discovered that large amounts of cash had been paid into his bank account by South Asian men desperate to find a wife to earn them the right to stay in the UK.
According to 'Wales Online', Singh had arrived in the UK with his wife and three children on a six-month visa in 2006 and never left despite having two applications for residency turned down in 2009 and 2011.
He pleaded guilty to five charges of conspiracy.
Judge Neil Bidder told him: "I have no power (over immigration matters) but if my views are worth anything I would say you ought to be deported.
"For substantial financial gain you recruited and to some degree exploited others and received around 10,000 pounds."
Lawyers for Singh said he wished to return to India voluntarily after serving his sentence.
"Singh would arrange marriages for Pakistani, Indian and Nepalese men who were either about to have visas run out or had overstayed. He would arrange for them to marry Czech women who had EU residency and therefore could confer this to any husbands," prosecutor Andrew Davies told the court, adding that Singh fixed at least four such sham weddings ? one of which was his own.
Two students pleaded guilty to conspiracy by paying him to arrange marriages for them days before their education visas were due to expire and were each jailed for 12 months.
Czech "bride" Romana Nistrove had her 12-month jail term suspended with unpaid community work when she admitted the same offence but told the court she is four months pregnant and was desperate for money at the time.