Sham Marriage Exposed After Groom Turns Up With Three Different Brides

A man who attempted to set up a sham marriage to stay in the UK was caught by officials after his 'partner' failed to remember his name when booking the wedding and was then replaced by a different bride on the big day.

Chinedu Amadi, from Nigeria, had already raised suspicions among staff at Leicester register office when he struggled to remember his own address. His Hungarian bride also appeared to suffer a temporary blip in her memory as she failed to recall her future husband's name.

The fears of registrar Debra Webster were confirmed three months later when Amadi, 27, arrived for his wedding in January not only an hour late, but with a different woman. After being turned away, he returned to the same register office again – on Valentine's day. This time he was accompanied by a third woman, Hungarian Szilvia Basco-Porkolab, 38.

Despite his attempts to claim his bride only looked different because she had previously worn a wig, investigations by immigration officials revealed Amadi had paid a 'fixer' £5,000 to arrange a sham wedding to an EU national.

Authorities also found Basco-Porkolab had a mystery of participating in sham marriages, while the first bride was uncovered as Rubin Durgos, 39, of Coalville, Leicestershire.

All three brides along with Amadi were jailed on Thursday at Leicester Crown Court. Neil Bannister, prosecuting, told the court: "The offences came to light with the intended marriage, initially, between Durgos and Amadi.

"Durgos struggled to pronounce the first name of Amadi and he struggled to remember his address.

"Mrs Webster also thought the couple were being excessively affectionate and gained the impression they were trying too hard to demonstrate they were a couple."

Basco-Porkolab admitted two counts of conspiracy to breach immigration laws relating to sham marriages and was jailed for 34 months. Amadi and Durgos, admitting similar counts, were both jailed for 20 months.