Deportation for Gambian man guilty of ID theft

Ahmed Jobe, 31, assumed the identity of Carl Davies after the Liverpudlian’s passport went missing in the post and managed to fool banks, immigration officials, police and the courts.

Jobe, whose student visa had expired, even found a British girlfriend and took her to his home country before threatening to abandon her there if she did not wed him – even though he was already married.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Jobe – who overstayed in the UK after his student visa expired in 2001 – racked up a 54,950 mortgage, motoring convictions and a police caution, all in the name of Carl Davies.

He had assumed the identity of Mr Davies after grafting his photo onto the man’s stolen passport, and used the false document to apply for genuine paperwork.

Prosecutor Andrew Dallas said Jobe, who was living in Wakefield, pressured British girlfriend Julie Stead into marrying him.

Jobe had married a Gambian woman – the mother of his daughter – in England in 2003 and there was no record of their divorce or her death.

The court heard Jobe had three different identities and dates of birth. Ahmed Sheikh Jobe got a two-year residency order in the UK after lying to a British High Commission official in The Gambia following his second marriage in 2006.

Although Jobe and Miss Stead separated in 2007, he told a Home Office worker they were still together when he successfully sought indefinite residency in the UK.

Jobe was convicted of 10 charges including handling stolen goods, forgery, using a false instrument, obtaining a mortgage by deception, perverting the course of justice and perjury.

Sentencing was adjourned.