Nigerian in benefits scam faces deportation but Bradford bride walks free

Nigerian national Joseph Adetola, 30, was jailed for 13 months today for producing fake ID to facilitate his marriage to a Slovakian woman living in Bradford.

He has already served the sentence in time spent on remand but was kept in custody pending his removal from the UK, although it is understood he plans to challenge any deportation.

Adetola was previously imprisoned for nine months in December 2009 after he used someone else’s identity to land a job as a cleaner at Rochdale Council.

An inquiry found that he had also falsely claimed housing and council tax benefits.

He pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court to three counts of making a false representation to make gains and possessing a false document in relation to another person.

However, he was not deported following that conviction and following his release he remained at large in the country until January this year when he was arrested over his wedding to Iveta Dotkova.

That ceremony took place at St Andrew’s Church in Accrington which is one of two churches in the east Lancashire town which has been the subject of a widespread inquiry into bogus marriages.

Last year it was reported that clergy at St Andrew’s and St Peter’s churches were asked to refer any planned weddings involving Africans and Eastern Europeans to the local diocese as an investigation began into 40 fake marriages.

Today, Preston Crown Court heard the ceremony between Adetola, of no fixed address, and Dotkova, 45, of Bradford, was not a sham but the pair had given false addresses when applying to marry.

Adetola had also used a fake passport in the registration process a month before their marriage in March 2009.

Both pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing.

Nigel Booth, prosecuting, said: “They had been together since 2007 and were in a mutually loving relationship which included her children.

“He and the co-accused continue to express mutual affection.

“He produced a Nigerian passport which was a false passport. The details within it appeared to relate to him but the passport itself was not genuine.

“From that point on both of them attended the ceremony of marriage and accepted making a false document in registering that they lived at an address which they did not live at.

“He is in the country illegally.” Martin Hackett, representing Adetola, said: “He will remain in custody. The immigration services are involved.

“He is hoping to instruct a solicitor from the Immigration Advice Bureau to deal with the case in that jurisdiction but he realises he will remain in custody until that case resolves or that solicitor is able to get him bail as regard to the immigration matters.”

In the Bolton case, Adetola, who was said to be living in Hollin, Rochdale, at the time, worked as a cleaner for Rochdale Council at Hopwood Hall College’s Middleton campus.

It was said he assumed the identity of Joseph Shaine between January and April 2009.

Today, Judge Beverley Lunt recommended his deportation over the wedding.

She said: “The offences of possessing a false Nigerian passport intending to use it to establish facts about yourself is a very serious matter.

“A passport is a serious document and you were able to use it to facilitate this wedding and to establish your identity for other means.

“It is not the first time you have broken the law.

“You went to prison in 2009 but was not deported at the end of it, yet here you are again for these two offences.

“You should be deported at the end of this sentence.”

Dotkova, of Birtley Street, walked free from court as she received a nine-month jail term suspended for 12 months.

Judge Lunt said she was able to suspend the sentence because the marriage was genuine rather than bogus.

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency said it could not comment on individual cases.