Uk Court Convicts Nigerian Pastor Over 360 Fake Marriages

Date: 01-08-2010 6:37 pm (13 years ago) | Author: Daniel Bosai
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- at 1-08-2010 06:37 PM (13 years ago)
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Pastor-Mike Aladesoye

According to the Daily Mail of London, Adelasoye, an immigration lawyer and pastor of the Ark of Hope church in St Leonards, East Sussex, along with his accomplices contrived to marry 360 illegal immigrants, many of them Nigerians, to complete strangers. Armed with a marriage certificate, the immigrants were then able to hoodwink the Home Office into giving them a visa to stay in Britain as a ‘spouse’, with access to education, healthcare and benefits. The sham marriages were carried out at the Victorian parish church, where Reverend Brown married up to eight couples a  day between 2005 and 2009.

Brown conducted the ceremonies at The Church of St Peter and St Paul between July 2005 and July 2009. Ninety couples were registered as living in one road and 52 in another. There were several brides and grooms from the same house, and one husband-to-be went under the name of ‘Felix Spaceman’.

A bride changed into her borrowed wedding gown in the vestry before the ceremony, then stuffed it back into a plastic bag afterwards, while a groom produced a ring that was far too small for his wife’s finger.

Nevertheless Brown, 61, protested his innocence, but he was convicted with the Nigerian immigration solicitor – whose clients paid up to £15,000 for a dodgy wedding – and a Ukrainian who supplied hard-up Eastern Europeans willing to marry for £3,000 cash. Michael Adelasoye, 50, a qualified immigration lawyer, found Africans who were desperate to stay in the UK after outstaying their visas. The court heard that 90 couples were registered as living in the same street. The Ukrainian, recruited the stooge brides and grooms from Hastings’s Eastern European community. Some wed several times.

Ten of the brides and grooms received police cautions, but the majority were never traced and are presumably still living in Britain. The three defendants denied conspiracy to breach immigration laws, but they were found guilty by a jury at Lewes Crown Court after a seven week trial. Brown, who is openly gay, also became the only vicar in 800 years to be convicted of failing to read out the banns – asking the congregation if they knew of ‘any just cause or impediment’ why two people may not marry.

Judge Richard Hayward adjourned sentencing to September 6 but warned the three, who all live in St Leonards, he was considering jail. He told them: ‘You have been convicted on very clear evidence of a serious offence.’ Adelasoye and Brown were released on conditional bail, and Buchak was remanded in custody.

The vicar walked from court without a word, but Adelasoye, who is a pastor of the Ark of Hope church in St Leonards, protested: ‘I don’t think it’s a fair verdict. God looks after the righteous.’ Later, the Archdeacon of Lewes and Hastings, the Venerable Philip Jones, said he was ‘shocked and saddened’ by Brown’s betrayal.

He said: ‘We are particularly sorry for those who have been deceived and hurt by his actions. The church and the community are faced with a  betrayal of trust on the part of Father Brown, who was a very trusted figure.’

He promised that churches would be more vigilant to fraud in the future, and said the Church of St Peter and St Paul was unlikely to be used for worship again after Brown’s tarnished tenure. Brown’s motivation remains unclear. Police believe the once respected priest threw away his career, his reputation and potentially his freedom to feather a nest for his retirement. But although they found £5,000 in cash at his home, this was not nearly as much as they would have expected if Brown’s sole desire was to make money, rather than to help immigrants.

The case, which police believe was part of an international multi-million pound scam, has once again exposed the lax regulations that have led to a booming racket in sham marriages over recent years.

Numerous attempts to curb the thousands of fake unions every year have been stymied by EU and human rights laws.

A total of 529 suspect marriages were reported to the Home Office in the 11 months to December last year – a rise of 54 per cent on 2008 levels.

Detective Inspector Andy Cummins, of the UK Border Agency, said: ‘This was the biggest operation of its kind we have come across, and the only one we know about where the vicar was entirely complicit.

‘As we investigated, we were all shocked as the scale of it emerged. The nearer he got to his retirement date, the more weddings he was doing.’ Immigration minister Damian Green said: ‘Britain is no longer a soft touch. We now have specialist teams of immigration and police officers working day in, day out, to tackle and prosecute people who commit this form of organised criminality.

‘We are determined to create a hostile environment which makes it harder than ever for illegal immigrants to come to the UK and put untold pressures on our public services.’


Posted: at 1-08-2010 06:37 PM (13 years ago) | Addicted Hero
- devid75 at 1-08-2010 10:02 PM (13 years ago)
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summarize it with few sentence
Posted: at 1-08-2010 10:02 PM (13 years ago) | Upcoming
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- popo2009 at 1-08-2010 11:45 PM (13 years ago)
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I Live in UK
The sad news is all over the country, in every newspaper
Nigerians who planned to come to UK will find it VERY diificult now.
innocent people will pay the price of other people's ignorance.
this is one thing i hate about Nigerians, they dont do thing with their senses.
How can you conduct such number of marriages in ONE parish.....that's STUPID!
Posted: at 1-08-2010 11:45 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- princedafe at 2-08-2010 01:37 AM (13 years ago)
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Quote from: popo2009 on  1-08-2010 11:45 PM
I Live in UK
The sad news is all over the country, in every newspaper
Nigerians who planned to come to UK will find it VERY diificult now.
innocent people will pay the price of other people's ignorance.
this is one thing i hate about Nigerians, they dont do thing with their senses.
How can you conduct such number of marriages in ONE parish.....that's STUPID!

shoo

i  no hear the news, na London i dey o, which paper carry tis fake story
Posted: at 2-08-2010 01:37 AM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- legodilaka at 2-08-2010 02:07 AM (13 years ago)
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NAWA O.INO FIT SHOUT............CAN U SEE WHY THE IS ALWAYS DEPORTIES?VERY BAD IN ONE CHURCH OOOOO
Posted: at 2-08-2010 02:07 AM (13 years ago) | Upcoming
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- kurupt419 at 2-08-2010 02:16 AM (13 years ago)
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GOOD FOR HIM
Posted: at 2-08-2010 02:16 AM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
Reply
- Bismack at 2-08-2010 03:13 AM (13 years ago)
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Nemesis has caught up wit em
Posted: at 2-08-2010 03:13 AM (13 years ago) | Upcoming
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- Laaw at 2-08-2010 08:22 AM (13 years ago)
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When you marry for the wrong reasons it will never last.
Posted: at 2-08-2010 08:22 AM (13 years ago) | Upcoming
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- Ucynice at 2-08-2010 11:39 AM (13 years ago)
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THE STORY IS TO BIG, I WILL WRITE A COMMENT ONCE I WISH READING IT.  I BEG I DEY COME
Posted: at 2-08-2010 11:39 AM (13 years ago) | Upcoming
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- popo2009 at 2-08-2010 12:25 PM (13 years ago)
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Quote from: princedafe on  2-08-2010 01:37 AM
Quote from: popo2009 on  1-08-2010 11:45 PM
I Live in UK
The sad news is all over the country, in every newspaper
Nigerians who planned to come to UK will find it VERY diificult now.
innocent people will pay the price of other people's ignorance.
this is one thing i hate about Nigerians, they dont do thing with their senses.
How can you conduct such number of marriages in ONE parish.....that's STUPID!

shoo

i  no hear the news, na London i dey o, which paper carry tis fake story


@Princedafe
it is obvious you dont even have time for yourself, talkless of reading papers
but atleast go to Home Office Website, This news is the first one
Dont doubt what you dont know......prick
Posted: at 2-08-2010 12:25 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- mykelly at 2-08-2010 12:48 PM (13 years ago)
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Okay!
Posted: at 2-08-2010 12:48 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- do4sure at 2-08-2010 04:13 PM (13 years ago)
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Just 2bad.As the Falconets(female soccer team) were busy giving NAIJA a facelift in Germany that stupid fake pastor was busy conducting fake marriages for fake couples. Thank God he has overfill his cup and he is now facing a real court for a real conviction to serve a real jail term. QED.
Posted: at 2-08-2010 04:13 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- cadanre at 2-08-2010 07:48 PM (13 years ago)
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Ah! What's happening? Most scandals involved pastors, what is happening to pastors nowadays?

Pator do this, he do that, he was caught doing that. Are they not being referred to as MEN OF GOD? Then why must men of God get involved in most scandals even than our politicians? Mts!

Posted: at 2-08-2010 07:48 PM (13 years ago) | Hero
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- prince316 at 2-08-2010 11:08 PM (13 years ago)
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99 persent of 9ja pastors na fake!!! so this story to me no be news
Posted: at 2-08-2010 11:08 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- eyevee at 2-08-2010 11:29 PM (13 years ago)
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sad story
Posted: at 2-08-2010 11:29 PM (13 years ago) | Upcoming
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- mydicksweet at 2-08-2010 11:40 PM (13 years ago)
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I think what Nigerian Gorvernment should be doing is to try and bring ppl like him back home and jail him 4 life bcz this are the kind of ppl that are giving us naija bad names
Posted: at 2-08-2010 11:40 PM (13 years ago) | Hero
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- chinwebaby at 2-08-2010 11:45 PM (13 years ago)
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This news is very embarassing. The news is all over the place in the UK. Before u could be offered a job here in the UK as a Nigerian, you will almost swear that your passport is original. God will help us.
Posted: at 2-08-2010 11:45 PM (13 years ago) | Newbie
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- sobby at 3-08-2010 12:50 PM (13 years ago)
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Surprise? na today? 95% of pastors are fake, pursuing riches and affluence instead of going to Somalia to win Talibans for Christ... Gosh
Posted: at 3-08-2010 12:50 PM (13 years ago) | Newbie
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- Akpan01 at 3-08-2010 01:04 PM (13 years ago)
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life be this

Posted: at 3-08-2010 01:04 PM (13 years ago) | Hero
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- prince316 at 3-08-2010 02:37 PM (13 years ago)
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to cover up their bad side of life, the will say dont judge any man!!! these fake men of God will keep on doing things like this!!!
Posted: at 3-08-2010 02:37 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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