Video: Pregnant woman among gang jailed over sham marriage

For her fake wedding Renata Toracova wore leggings while groom Sajid Ali sported a crumpled shirt and tie, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

The couple’s rings were bought that morning from Argos for £32.98 and taken to the ceremony in a carrier bag.

Neither Toracova, 37, a Slovak, nor Ali, 31, a Pakistani, could speak each other’s language. As a result, the registrar at Sheffield Town Hall became suspicious and informed the Home Office.

Police and UK Border Agency officials swooped on the wedding day, during a ceremony at Sheffield Town Hall last September.

The court heard that Toracova had been cheating on her husband with Ladislav Mizagar, the father of her baby.

Toracova, Mizigar, 40, his nephew and interpreter Michal Gazi, 22, and the groom’s uncle Mahtab Khan, 37, along with Ali, all admitted conspiring to breach immigration laws.

They were jailed for a total of four years yesterday. The court heard Toracova and Ali signed forms to say they lived together in Sheffield when in fact the “bride” was living with Mizagar and Ali was living in Bradford.

When he was arrested, a brown envelope was found in Khan’s trouser pocket containing £1,400. He later admitted it was cash for the “bride”.

Toracova, who had the right to remain in the UK as a European citizen, told police she had already been given £500 and was promised another £1,400 after the wedding.

Sentencing the gang, the judge, recorder Paul Reid, said: “It was a sham, planned in advance but carried out in a hasty, haphazard and amateurish fashion. It was designed to flaunt the immigration laws of this country.”

Toracova was jailed for eight months and her fake husband Ali for 12 months. Khan was given 46 weeks in jail and Mizigar and Gazi nine months each.