A Pakistani man has been jailed after police raided his sham marriage and found a “crib sheet” he used to memorise his bride-to-be’s details, the Daily Mail said on Saturday.
Fraudster Ijaz Khalid, 28, was all set to wed Czech Michaela Sivakova, 22, when officials swooped in on their wedding after a tip-off.
Police arrested the pair, along with the bride’s parents Ruzena Sivokava, 41, and 47-year-old Michal Sivak at Calderdale Register Office in Halifax before the ceremony was completed. Bradford Crown Court heard that Khalid had been in the UK since 2007 but his visa had expired at the time of the fake marriage in June. Kitty Taylor, prosecuting, revealed that Khalid’s desperate attempts to stay in the UK saw him apply for a marriage certificate with another Czech woman in April -even though he told police he had been in a relationship with his bride-to-be Sivakova for months.
Khalid told police he had fallen for his bride since meeting her in January at a coffee shop in Bradford. But when police searched his car they found a crib sheet containing information about Sivakova, details of this fake meeting and the bride’s bank details.
Instead of the pair being in love for months, mobile phones taken from all four revealed the first contact between the families was just four weeks before the wedding. The investigation also found Sivakova’s account number and sort code on a piece of paper wrapped around a debit card in Ruzena’s handbag.
The unconvincing couple’s lies faltered after Khalid told officers his wife-to-be lived with him in Watford and ran a cleaning business from their flat, but she told them she had never been there.
The police found that Michaela had been living with her boyfriend, the father of her baby, throughout her supposed romance with Khalid.
Judge John Potter told the four defendants: “The investigation into what was about to happen at the registry office provided clear evidence that each of you embarked on this unlawful agreement to allow Khalid to breach the immigration laws of this country. It seems that a moderate amount of money was to be transferred to this family, probably around 200 pounds, to allow the groom, once married, to remain in the UK. People who behave how you did – flouting the immigration laws of this country – cause potential danger for our country.” Jailing Khalid for 18 months Judge Potter said: “This was your second attempt at a sham marriage. You would have gained significant persona benefit by being allowed to remain in the UK.” Both Khalid, of Watford, and mother-of-one Sivakova, of Halifax, were charged with a conspiracy intended to breach immigration laws, and signing false statements of intention to marry.
