Bogus wedding gang 'lynch pin' jailed

18 February 2010

A man described as the 'lynch pin' of an East London sham marriage ring has been jailed for six years, following a two-year investigation by our officers.

Ghanaian national Victor Kugbeadzor, aged 29, of Rushcroft Road in Brixton, is known to have organised at least six bogus weddings of British citizens to Ghanaian nationals, including his own.

He married 28-year-old Kelly Bellotti at Barking Registry Office in October 2007 in order to get permission to stay in the UK. In reality the marriage was a sham, and Bellotti had been paid £2000 to marry him. Bellotti was arrested at her home address in Ilford in November 2008. She was jailed in October 2009, along with three other British citizens who had also been involved in other marriages organised by Kugbeadzor.

Kugbeadzor went on the run for 20 months, but investigations led officers from our criminal and financial investigation (CFI) unit to Broadclyst in Devon, where he was found living under an assumed name. He was arrested on 26 November 2009.

On Thursday 11 February Kugbeadzor pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including conspiracy to breach immigration control, deception and Identity Cards Act offences at Croydon Crown Court. He was jailed for six years, and faces deportation at the end of his sentence.

Malcolm Bragg, assistant director of the UK Border Agency criminal and financial investigations directorate, said:

'This was a sophisticated and organised plot, and the sentence handed down in this case shows how seriously we and the courts take these kinds of attempts to circumvent the UK's immigration rules.

'My officers and I are determined to track down and stop this kind of abuse, and we hope today's sentences send out a message that anyone who tries to enter into or organise a sham marriage faces arrest, prosecution, and a long time in prison.'

The conviction of Victor Kugbeadzor means that nine people have now been jailed for their parts in the sham marriage ring, with sentences totalling seventeen and a half years.

Three Ghanaian beneficiaries of the scam have already been deported.

Our investigation into the ring, codenamed 'Operation Probole' has lasted for more than two years. It began after immigration officials raised concerns about the marriage of British citizen Lisa Curtis to Ghanaian Kwabena Boadu. They were both arrested, and documentation was found at her home in Dagenham, including a price list, linking her to numerous other suspect marriages.