CONVICTIONS SECURED

Jenny Burgess successfully prosecuted three defendants in a “sham marriage” case, who were convicted by a jury after four weeks of evidence, of conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law. The jury returned their verdicts within two hours. The defendants included a husband and wife and the husband’s older brother, who was a forgery-trained Border Force officer stationed at Heathrow Airport Terminal 3.

The purpose of the conspiracy was to obtain a route by which the husband, a Nigerian national, could remain in the UK by marrying an EEA citizen with settled status. The marriage took place at Dundee Registry Office after a fiction had been created of a genuine relationship. The fiction continued to be maintained throughout the marriage, with foreign trips taken by the husband and wife, including a trip to Nigeria for a traditional wedding.

The prosecution’s case was that the older brother engineered the entire scheme, abusing his position as a Border Force officer to look up the wife on Home Office systems. He was also convicted of accessing the systems over a period of three months to search for another unconnected Nigerian national whom he was helping to obtain a visa to enter the UK.

Sentencing has been adjourned to February 2026. Jenny was instructed by Paul Goddard of the Specialist Casework Unit at the Crown Prosecution Service.