A WOMAN has been jailed for 15 months after she was convicted of an attempted sham marriage in Downpatrick last year.
The court was told that Ayesha Mullan, 26, who is from Leicester had flown to Belfast along with an Indian man who she had met only twice before and travelled on to Downpatrick where the wedding was planned to take place.
Following her arrest, Mullan was questioned by UK Border Agency officers and admitted marrying other men in sham marriages both in the UK and India after meeting the grooms only briefly. She also admitted that she had been married to a British man since 2010.
The would-be groom in Downpatrick, 38-year-old Salauddin Daudbhai Bhadki was sentenced last year to 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to immigration offences at Downpatrick Crown Court.
After serving his jail term, he has since been deported from the UK.
Mullan pleaded guilty on November 19 to Conspiracy to Assist Unlawful Immigration and Bigamy and was sentenced on Tuesday.
Andrea Anderson, from the UK Border Agency said: “This woman thought she could abuse the immigration rules and evade justice by arranging a sham marriage at a location where she was not known.
“As this case shows, Northern Ireland is not a soft touch for this type of crime and we will prosecute those fraudsters who facilitate illegal immigration as well as those who have no right to be in the UK.”
