An Iraqi asylum-seeker used somebody else’s British passport to take the Eurostar train to Paris and back - returning with a knife in his luggage.
Jobless delivery driver Mohammed Alipour, 30, of Davison Street, Stoke-on-Trent claimed he found the passport near his home and used it to visit a friend in the French capital for five days.
He was a stopped by a U.K. Borders Agency official at St. Pancras International (pictured) railway station and a search of his bag found the folding lock-knife hidden amongst clothing.
Alipour pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates’ Court to unlawfully possessing an identity document and a bladed article on June 9.
Prosecutor Mrs. Varinder Hayre told the court the passport photograph was clearly somebody else when Alipour showed it to immigration officers.
The defendant had stuffed his driving licence – revealing his true identity – down his sock.
The court was told Alipour’s immigration status was “unclear” and the cells confirmed the official form giving them permission to hold him was incomplete and missing a photo.
Alipour claims he bought the knife in a Paris antique shop to peel fruit in his hotel room.
The magistrates placed Alipour on a twelve-month community order, which includes 120 hours unpaid work and ordered him to pay £75 costs.
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