UK vicar presided over hundreds of sham marriages
Published:Friday | July 30, 2010 | 12:00 AM
LONDON (AP):
A vicar has been found guilty of presiding over hundreds of sham weddings for foreigners seeking to bypass Britain's immigration laws.
The Reverend Alex Brown married some 360 couples in discreet ceremonies at the Church of St Peter and St Paul near the English seaside town of Hastings.
Most of the brides were Eastern European women down on their luck and short on money. Most of the grooms were African migrants desperate to stay in the country.
Few partners knew each other before the weddings.
Co-defendants Michael Adelasoye, 50, and Vladymyr Buchak, 33, helped recruit couples for the scheme.
A jury in Lewes Crown Court, in southern England, found all three guilty yesterday of plotting to help break immigration laws. Sentencing is scheduled for September 6.