Drug Smuggler Had Cocaine In Laptop Bag Lining

A jobless Birmingham man, caught smuggling £80,000 worth of cocaine through Gatwick Airport in a bid to wipe out debts, was jailed for four years today.

Daron Omar Falconer, 31, of Abbotsford Avenue had just stepped off a flight from Jamaica when UK Border Agency staff found the cocaine paste hidden in the lining of a laptop bag.

He pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court (pictured) to importing 850 gms of the class A drug on March 19.

Falconer told officers he was acting “under duress” and was awaiting trial in custody when he decided to change his plea to guilty.

“He was a courier who was not going to share in the profits,” said Mr. Jeremy Lynn, defending.

“He was pressured into getting involved by a group of people in Birmingham who seemed to be friendly and helped him find accommodation and were relaxed as to when he paid the rent.

“He became indebted to them and was pressured into travelling to Jamaica, collecting a bag for them, and bringing it back into this country.”

The court heard Falconer has struggled with depression and has at times been “suicidal” and Judge Nicholas Ainley read a lengthy heartfelt letter from the defendant's wife.

“He is a total stranger to drug offending and this league of offending,” added Mr. Lynn.

“You know what you did and why you did it and you know the harm it has caused your family,” Judge Ainley told Falconer.

“I have to give you a sentence that will deter others.”

Falconer was given credit for the 225 days he has already spent on remand.

Landlady Jailed For Benefit Fraud

A benefit fraudster, who continued claiming £100,000 in hand-outs after inheriting her father's house - which she rented to her boyfriend - was jailed today.

Mother-of-two Melissa Urquhart, 34, of Widden Road, Stratford claimed income support and housing and council tax benefit at a property in Croydon for eight years.

The first-time offender, who dropped-out of a psychology degree course, also pocketed rent from her boyfriend, who was also claiming housing benefit.

Croydon Crown Court (pictured) was told it was a “very sophisticated fraud” which ran from 2003 to 2011 after Urquhart inherited the £240,000 East London property after the tragic hit-and-run death of her father.

In February 2009 investigators saw the defendant's name on a land registry document and she was quizzed in December 2010.

Judge Nicholas Ainley told Urquhart: “You ceased to be entitled to claim because you inherited a property and continued to make significant claims for benefits over eight years.

“You were privately renting it out and not letting it go to waste.”

Urquhart was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment.

Greedy Gold Prospectors Caught

The 'Goldfinger of Wallington' Frank Dickson sold four stolen gold bars for less than a quarter of their value – clocking-up his forty-sixth conviction.

The bars – worth nearly £5,000 – were the proceeds of a scam and their sale enraged the criminals behind the illegal purchase.

Apprentice window fitter Dickson, 28, of Barnard Close, Wallington pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to converting criminal property, namely the gold bars, on June 25, last year.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Dean told the court online fraudsters hijacked an innocent man's identity to buy the bars for £4,971 from Baird & Co on June 21.

The fraudsters arranged to have the gold delivered via Royal Mail special delivery to an associate's address in Mitcham on June 25.

“The package was delivered to the address of Tim Lambert, who had been told by a friend to simply sign and look after it.

“Mr. Lambert opened it and found the four gold bars and believing it was his lucky day decided to sell the bars.”

He brought them to an address in Aitken Close, Mitcham, where Dickson agreed he could arrange a sale.

Dickson phoned a contact and sold the gold bars for £1140 – taking a £560 commission.

However, when the fraudsters threatened Lambert for their gold he was forced to go to police for his own safety and was later jailed for eight months for theft.

“You have a troubling record going back to when you were only twelve years of age,” Recorder Niall Quinn QC told Dickson, who has forty-five previous convictions and is currently serving a prison sentence

“You have a history of burglary and dishonesty, but you have made significant progress for the first time in your life with this apprenticeship.

“On this occasion it seems you certainly charged a fee that is more than Cash Converters would have done.”

Dickson was conditionally discharged for eighteen months, fined £50 with a £15 surcharge for failing to appear at an earlier hearing and ordered to pay £100 costs.

When released from his current sentence Dickson will remain under an existing suspended sentence that includes an alcohol treatment requirement.

ASDA Scammers' "Nice Little Earner"

L to R: Parsons, Baldock & Macaree

A greedy group of thieves exploited ASDA's new self-service system to repeatedly steal cash back from the automated machines - hitting the store 150 times in just six days - in a scam described by a judge as a "nice little earner."

They took turns to make tiny purchases with a bank card, but then requested £50 cash back each time, taking advantage of a security lapse, which failed to check whether the card was in credit.

ASDA's total loss was £7,500 and they have since changed the automated tills software to avoid anymore similar scams.

Ringleader Mark Baldock, 34, of Sydney Road, Sutton pleaded guilty to stealing £318; Tyron Parsons, 22, of Washington Road, Worcester Park admitted stealing £1,200; Keeley Macaree, 22, of Senga Road, Wallington admitted stealing £2,350 and Claire Collins, 28, of Kingston Avenue, Sutton admitted stealing £866.

Prosecutor Mr. Julius Capon told Croydon Crown Court that Baldock opened the account on November 22, last year and it was used for nothing other than the thefts, which took place between December 27 and January 3 in the Sutton area.

"Mr. Baldock was the prime mover and this group took advantage of vulnerabilities in ASDA's security and authorisation.

"When ASDA introduced electronic self-service tills they allowed cash back of up to ninety pounds without any authorisation.

"This group purchased very low priced items and requested cash back of fifty pounds and no checks were made to ensure there were funds in the account of the cardholder.

"Mr. Baldock allowed his account to become overdrawn and made no effort to pay it off. It was theft to just obtain the cash."

The gang were rounded up after ASDA and the police checked CCTV of the defendants repeatedly entering stores and withdrawing cash.

The Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon said: "We are dealing here with a nice little criminal venture with repeated attempts to exploit this quirk in the system. This, on the face of it is organised crime.

"This is slightly easier than shoplifting. You get the money and leave and no one is going to stop you.

"Baldock was the driving force behind this nice little earner. He is the number one, whose brainchild this is."

Couple Baldock and Collins are serial shoplifters and she has thirty-six previous convictions, mostly for theft.

Parsons has forty-eight convictions and Keeley a record for alcohol-related offending.

Baldock was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment; Collins received a 12 month community order with drug rehabilitation; Parsons received 4 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months and Keeley an 18 month community order with an alcohol treatment requirement.

Solicitor Threw Bucket Of Dirty Water Over Neighbour

A solicitor involved in a plumbing dispute with her neighbour was convicted of assault after throwing a bucket of dirty water from a blocked sink over the shocked woman.

Victoria Herath, 56, (pictured) the managing director of Victoria & Co shouted: "You bitch, you bastard," out of her kitchen window as the neighbour passed by, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

The middle-aged victim, Abeba Berha, who lives directly above Herath in Brent Lea, Brentford told the court: "She came out with a bucket of water and just threw it over me.

"It was a big bucket and the corridor was flooded. I just screamed because I did not expect this.

"It was dirty water. How can someone throw it over someone else," added the sobbing Mrs Berha.

"She is always abusive and shouts at everybody. Once she waved a knife and the police came and told us to be careful.

"The way you act is not like a normal person," Mrs. Berha told Herath from the witness box.

In a statement to police the victim said: "I am very scared of the lady. She is terrorising my family and others in the block. Mrs Herath is an unpredictable lady."

Neighbour Elizabeth McLean immediately called the police after hearing the commotion in the communal hallway and told the appeal hearing: "Mrs Berha was standing in a huge puddle of horrible, dirty-looking water.

"She was scared and she said: 'There may be acid in this water.'

"There was an exchange of shouting between Mrs Berha's husband and son and Mrs Herath, who was shouting out of her kitchen window.

"I have heard her shouting so many times, shouting at numerous people over the past six years."

Herath has also complained about the witnesses two children and other youngsters playing in and around the block.

"You were harassing and intimidating my children for a long time," Miss McLean told the solicitor. "You have isolated yourself by shouting at everyone.

"You don't like to see people get on and have a good time and be a community.

"You shout out of your window at people just walking past. You don't want to be friends with anyone."

When police arrived Herath told them she was unhappy with a blocked drain and had to be handcuffed as she struggled with a WPC who wanted to prevent her making a call on her mobile phone.

Her suggestion that neighbours had conspired together to bring the allegation against her was dismissed along with the appeal against her assault conviction.

The original sentence of a £110 fine, plus £50 compensation to Mrs Berha, a £15 victim surcharge and £50 costs remains, plus an additional £310 costs order for the failed appeal.

Eleven Years For Extradited Sex Offender

A pensioner – extradited from Australia – was jailed for eleven years today for decades-old sex offences against four young girls when they were aged nine to sixteen years-old.

The crimes dated back to 1949 and 78 year-old ex-serviceman and miner Reginald Davies (pictured), who had emigrated down under, must have thought he had got away with it.

Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard Davies, now staying in Esbies Estate, Sawbridgeworth, was responsible for an “entrenched pattern of sustained sexual abuse.”

He denied, but was convicted of 13 of sixteen offences, against the girls in Abertridwr, Caerphilly, Wales.

Davies was extradited from Perth, where he had emigrated over twenty years ago.

The court heard he would lavish the girls with attention and "test the water" by asking them for a kiss, would touch their legs and then forced them into sexual acts.

Hanna Llewellyn-Waters, prosecuting, said: "The defendant nurtured a fear of disclosing the abuse in the complainants when they were children.

"He made them feel that they would not be believed, that they were to blame and, on occasion, he threatened that they would be removed from their parents if they were to report his abuse of them.

"As the complainants grew up, they tried to block the abuse from their minds in order to try to be able to continue with their lives."

He was arrested last July at his adopted home of Wanneroo on Australia's west coast.



The offences were investigated by specialist detectives from the Met’s Child Abuse Investigation team.



The jury heard Davies abused his victims while he was aged between 15 and 39.



He also told one of his victims she would be taken to a "naughty girl's home" if she spoke to anyone about the abuse, and she would never see her mother again.





Davies moved to Australia in 1974, but in 2008 two of his victims, whilst were holidaying in the country, decided to confront him and report him to the local authorities.



 In August 2010 the Met were granted an arrest warrant for Davies’ extradition and arrest.



On September 28, last year Davies was arrested by the Australian authorities and escorted onto an airplane bound for London where he was met by detectives at Heathrow Airport and charged.



Detective Inspector Tessa Philpott of the Child Abuse Investigation Command, said: 

”When Reginald Davies emigrated to Australia in 1974 he thought that he had left behind not only the UK, but also the horrendous catalogue of abuse he committed against four small children.

“I would imagine he thought his past would never catch up with him and he would never face justice, but thanks to the bravery of his victims, his past did catch up with him, and today he faces justice.

“I hope that this will go some way towards helping his victims whose lives have been blighted by him, to move forward in some small way.

“I also hope that his extradition from the other side of the world and conviction give other victims the confidence to come forward and report their experiences to the police.”

Davies was convicted of: attempted rape of a child under the age of 12, between1949 and 1953; indecent assault of a child under the age of 15, between 1949 and 1956.



Attempted rape of a child under the age of 12, during 1955; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957.

Indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957.

Indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and1957; inciting a child under the age of 12 to commit an act of gross indecency between 1965 and 1968; rape of a child under the age of 12, between 1968 and 1969.

Rape of a child under the age of 12, between 1970 and 1971 and indecent assault of a child under during 1973.

Ugandan £4m Benefits Plot: Nine Face Sentencing

L to R: Sekiziyuvu, Kaidi and Sebutemba

Four members of a Ugandan family, who masterminded an 18-year £4m plot to defraud immigration and DSS departments by creating and using a string of false identities, were convicted today.

"When the phrase 'family business' was used that was no cliche, that was a reality," commented Croydon Crown Court Judge Nicholas Ainley. "Sentences of imprisonment are inevitable in this case."

Ringleader Ruth Nabaguzi, 49, of Church Road, Forest Gate, East London landed the NHS with a £2,280,000 bill for HIV Aids medication alone by obtaining multiple quantities in different identities.

She already pleaded guilty to a total of twenty-six charges and remains in custody awaiting sentencing with a separate four defendants who have also admitted their role.

Convicted today were: Lamulah Sekiziyuvu, 36, of Palmerston Road, Manor Park; Albert Kaidi, 27, and mother-of-two Jordan Sebutemba, 26, both of South Esk Road, Forest Gate and Dennis Kyeyune, 29, of Mitcham Road, Mitcham. 

The jury found them guilty of conspiring to defraud immigration and DSS departments and other government departments between June 12, 1993 and September 9, 2011.

Kaidi alone was convicted of assisting unlawful immigration on or about September 24, 2006 and making a false statement to obtain jobseeker's allowance between March 26, 2009 and August 24, last year.

The prosecution have calculated the total loss at £3,950,000, which includes £154,000 in state education; £37,500 in higher education; £650,000 form a sub-letting scam involving properties in receipt of housing benefit and £900,000 in other benefits.

"This case is summarised in two words: 'Identity fraud.' It is at the heart of this case against these defendants," prosecutor Mr. Paul Raudnitz told the jury.

"The allegation is that they conspired together and with others, in particular Ruth Nabaguzi, to systematically, use, create and exploit false identities to facilitate fraud.

"These identities were misused to facilitate benefit and immigration fraud."

Describing Nabaguzi as the plot's ringleader Mr. Raudnitz added: "She was at the heart of the conspiracy. She agreed with people to use false identities to facilitate fraud.

"Each defendant at different times joined the conspiracy, attaching themselves to the agreement at some stage and it's tentacles went far and would do so for many years."

The prosecution say Sekiziyuvu is either Nabaguzi's daughter or niece and Kyeyune is her son.

"She employed multiple different identities and her true identity may never be known," explained Mr. Raudnitz of Nabaguzi.

"All the defendants are either children of hers or related or associated with her."

During a police and UK Border Agency raid on an address in Mitcham Road, Mitcham on September 8, last year Kyeyune was arrested.

"Concealed in the shed roof in the back garden was a black holdall and inside was a vast array of passports and documents in multiple different identities.

"This was, in effect, a kit bag for identity fraud," said the prosecutor.

"Nabaguzi adopted and ruthlessly abused identities and obtained immigration status for herself in a number of different identities and for a number of other people and from them benefit claims would be made."

Extradited Pensioner Convicted Of Sex Crimes From 1949

A pensioner – extradited from Australia – was convicted today of decades-old sex offences against four young girls when they were aged nine to sixteen years-old.

The crimes dated back to 1949 and 78 year-old ex-serviceman and miner Reginald Davies (pictured), who had emigrated down under, must have thought he had got away with it.

Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard Davies, now staying in Esbies Estate, Sawbridgeworth, was responsible for an “entrenched pattern of sustained sexual abuse.”

He denied, but was convicted of 13 of sixteen offences, against the girls in Abertridwr, Caerphilly, Wales.

Davies was extradited from Perth, where he had emigrated over twenty years ago.

The court heard he would lavish the girls with attention and "test the water" by asking them for a kiss, would touch their legs and then forced them into sexual acts.

Hanna Llewellyn-Waters, prosecuting, said: "The defendant nurtured a fear of disclosing the abuse in the complainants when they were children.

"He made them feel that they would not be believed, that they were to blame and, on occasion, he threatened that they would be removed from their parents if they were to report his abuse of them.

"As the complainants grew up, they tried to block the abuse from their minds in order to try to be able to continue with their lives."

He was arrested last July at his adopted home of Wanneroo on Australia's west coast.



The offences were investigated by specialist detectives from the Met’s Child Abuse Investigation team.



The jury heard Davies abused his victims while he was aged between 15 and 39.



He also told one of his victims she would be taken to a "naughty girl's home" if she spoke to anyone about the abuse, and she would never see her mother again.





Davies moved to Australia in 1974, but in 2008 two of his victims, whilst were holidaying in the country, decided to confront him and report him to the local authorities.

In August 2010 the Met were granted an arrest warrant for Davies’ extradition and arrest.



On September 28, last year Davies was arrested by the Australian authorities and escorted onto an airplane bound for London where he was met by detectives at Heathrow Airport and charged.



Detective Inspector Tessa Philpott of the Child Abuse Investigation Command, said: 

”When Reginald Davies emigrated to Australia in 1974 he thought that he had left behind not only the UK, but also the horrendous catalogue of abuse he committed against four small children.

“I would imagine he thought his past would never catch up with him and he would never face justice, but thanks to the bravery of his victims, his past did catch up with him, and today he faces justice.

“I hope that this will go some way towards helping his victims whose lives have been blighted by him, to move forward in some small way.

“I also hope that his extradition from the other side of the world and conviction give other victims the confidence to come forward and report their experiences to the police.”

Davies was convicted of: attempted rape of a child under the age of 12, between1949 and 1953; indecent assault of a child under the age of 15, between 1949 and 1956.



Attempted rape of a child under the age of 12, during 1955; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957.

Indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957; indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and 1957.

Indecent assault of a child under the age of 14, between 1953 and1957; inciting a child under the age of 12 to commit an act of gross indecency between 1965 and 1968; rape of a child under the age of 12, between 1968 and 1969.

Rape of a child under the age of 12, between 1970 and 1971 and indecent assault of a child under during 1973.

Bogus Immigrant Investor Will Try And Stay In UK

A Pakistani student, granted a visa to study at a bogus London college, will be allowed to fight for residency in the UK despite being jailed for supplying forged bank statements in a bid to falsely obtain investor status.

When 23 year-old Umar Siddique's renewed student visa was close to expiring he presented the false statements to the Home Office, purporting he was investing £205,000 in the country, hoping it would lead to permanent residency as a Tier One Entrepreneur.

Croydon Crown Court (pictured) heard the offence would not automatically trigger a deportation order and Siddique, of Roman Road, Bow will continue in his application for residency when released in a few days.

He pleaded guilty to seeking to obtain leave to remain in the UK by deceptive means on or before November 21, last year by supplying false documents to the Home Office suggesting he had funds in excess of £200,000 - the minimum amount required to receive the visa.

Siddique arrived in the UK in October, 2009 on a student visa to study at the Sirm College, which was later black-listed and removed from the register of approved educational institutions.

He won a visa extension to study IT at Cromwell College and should have returned home upon completion of his studies last year.

However, Siddique made the false application and prosecutor Miss Shekinah Anson said: "The documents supplied included bank statements in his name that showed investors had transferred two hundred and five thousand pounds into it.

"The account was genuine, but the balance was not."

Siddique, who has been in custody since June 8, claims "a moment of desperation" led to the offence when faced with having to leave the country he wished to call home and live and work in.

A sentence of a year or more would have automatically triggered deportation, but Judge Shani Barnes agreed to limit it to nine months, announcing: "It would be wrong of me to cut off an avenue he could pursue."

Current guideline suggest twelve to eighteen months imprisonment for the offence, but Siddique is entitled to a discount for a guilty plea, even thought he entered it on the day of the trial.

"You came to this country legitimately, you studied hard and started again and successfully completed your education here," Judge Barnes told the defendant.

"You have attempted to stay here under false pretences and you are lucky it failed because your life here would have been built on a lie. You can now make your application and take your chances in the legitimate way."

Woman Caught In Control Of Bent Money

A woman, who found herself in control of £5,000 in illegal funds transferred to an online gambling account after a banking scam, will now have to do 160 hours of community service work.

Jobless Sarah Moore, 50, (pictured) of Hollywoods, Courtwood Lane, Croydon never got her hands on the cash and has signed it over to the bank.

She pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to converting criminal property between March 23, 2009 and October 15, last year.

The court heard an individual known only as 'Rob' moved money stolen from Santander Bank to the Corals Bookmaker's account.

He found it impossible to withdraw the loot so allowed Moore to take charge of the account, but it was frozen by suspicious Corals staff and the defendant was later arrested.

Mum Jailed For Smuggling Drugs On Kids' Trip

An Edmonton mother-of-two, who used her children as cover while smuggling £47,000 worth of cannabis through Gatwick Airport after a Caribbean holiday, has been jailed for three years.

Judian Lindsay-Smith, 34, of St. Joseph's Road posed as an innocent tourist returning from Jamaica with her children, aged 14 and 8, but was carrying 34lbs of the drug.

She denied, but was convicted at Croydon Crown Court of importing cannabis at the airport on February 20.

“It is well known that people use children to make them look less suspicious,” said Judge Shani Barnes.

“You used a fourteen year-old and an eight year-old to do what you did on that journey,” the judge told Lindsay-Smith. “It was a terrible error of judgement.

“I have to assume this was for financial reward and I know your family is going to suffer.

“When people are convicted of serious offences they leave behind a trail of destruction.”

The court heard UK Border Agency staff were monitoring baggage as it was unloaded from the Kingston flight.

A black suitcase bearing the defendant's address was checked and contained 17lbs of herbal cannabis wrapped in foil.

A brown suitcase, which also had the same address, was searched and another 17lbs of the drug was inside.

Officers observed as Lindsay-Smith's teenage son collected the suitcases and the family tried to depart via the 'nothing to declare' channel.

They were stopped and the defendant claimed she had only visited Jamaica to see her elderly grandmother, who had suffered a stroke eighteen months earlier.

She had spent eight days abroad and denied knowing there was cannabis in both her suitcases, later denying they were her suitcases at all.

The jury were also told each bag weighed 17lbs less on departure than when Lindsay-Smith returned.

Paedo's Abuse Leaves Girl Suicidal

A soccer coach who "conducted a campaign of sexual abuse" against a young girl for three years, leaving her feeling suicidal, has been jailed for six years.

Quantity surveyor and former accountant Robert Davis, 42, (pictured) of Denning Avenue, Waddon began molesting the youngster in March, 2007 when she was only twelve years-old.

He forced her to give distressing evidence at Croydon Crown Court, where after a nine-day trial the jury convicted him of six counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The offences took place at an address in Harewood Gardens, South Croydon where Davis performed sex acts on the girl and forced her to perform sex acts on him.

The charges were sample counts reflecting numerous assaults, which at their peak occurred weekly.

During the trial he claimed victim, who once tried to kill herself as a result of the abuse, had invented the allegations, but during his probation interview accepted his responsibility.

"Over a three-year period you conducted a campaign of sexual abuse against that young girl, committing a variety of sexual offences," Judge Daniel Flahive told Davis.

"We know you were keen to work with the girl's football team and as she grew older you became more sexually attracted to her.

"Some of the evidence she gave was in graphic detail and at times she cried and we heard she got to the stage where she wanted to kill herself.

"She did attempt suicide and showed us where she had marked her arms with a pair of scissors or a razor," added the judge.

"She was put through mental anguish and you told her at one point it was: 'Our little secret."

Davis will complete an additional two years on licence when released from prison and an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order was made restricting his future contact with children aged under sixteen year-old.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for an indefinite period. 

Duped 'Wife' Avoids Prison For Marriage Lies

A young Redhill woman, who lied about living with her Albanian boyfriend when successfully obtaining a marriage certificate, escaped prison with a suspended sentence on Wednesday.

Zoe Stone, 25, (pictured) of Gatton Park Road was originally charged with participating in a sham marriage with Pellumb Uka, who has since dumped the seven-months pregnant defendant.

She pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to knowingly or wilfully making a false oath or declaration to procure a marriage certificate or licence at Leatherhead registry office on December 13, last year, contrary to the Perjury Act.

Prosecutor Mr. Nick Cooper told the court first-time offender Stone, a dispenser with Boots, signed a declaration confirming she and Mr. Uka were residing together, which was not true.

“The defendant had a relationship with Pellumb Uka's brother in August, 2008 and when Pellumb came to this country he was refused asylum and in February, 2009 left voluntarily.

“Pellumb applied for, but was refused a marriage visa, but successfully appealed the decision and returned to this country and married the defendant.”

Stone denies she ever dated Pellumb's brother and maintains their relationship was genuine as far as she was concerned.

The prosecution accept she made no financial gain from the marriage.

Recorder Andrew Baillie QC told Stone: “I accept you entered into a genuine marriage with a man who has since disappeared and is no longer available.”

The court heard Pellumb has left another young woman in a similar position.

“I know your case always was that this was a genuine marriage, but the offence does undermine the institution of marriage,” added the Recorder.

Stone was sentenced to five months imprisonment, suspended for twelve months, ordered to obey a condition of residence at the family home for one month and pay £250 costs.