A MAN has been jailed, along with three others, for his part in a sham marriage scam in Wood Green.

The scam, involving Nigerian and Dutch nationals, resulted in six years jail time in total after police discovered the fake marriages, which took place at St Michael's Church, in Bounds Green Road.

There is no evidence the church was involved in the scam and was not involved in the investigation.

The UK Border Agency triggered an investigation into the scam after officers identified suspicious travel patterns of people flying in and out of Luton and Stansted Airports. Tickets for the passengers were all purchased by 29-year-old Nigerian Adeolu Eletu.

Mr Eletu had married 21-year-old Dutch woman Daniloush Solano at a church in Wood Green. Miss Solano was arrested on February 10 as she attempted to board a plane to Amsterdam.

Police officers arrested Mr Eletu on 27 February, and discovered his girlfriend, 33-year-old Nigerian Helen Ogungbade, was also due to marry in a sham wedding of her own at the same Wood Green church.

Police Officers established that Miss Solano had caught a taxi to Luton Airport form the home of Nigerian Sylvernus Ogungbade, 36. Immigration checks on Mr Ogungbade, who lives in Edgware, showed he had recently applied for a visa after his marriage to a Dutch woman still wanted by the UK Border Agency.

All four people involved pleaded guilty to the charges made against them, with Miss Solano being sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at a hearing on June 10. Yesterday, at Luton Crown Court, Adeolu Eletu was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months, Helen Omoboye was sentenced to 18 months and Sylvernus Ogungbade was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in jail.

Assistant Director of the UK Border Agency, Sam Bullimore, said: “The sentences handed out show how seriously we, and the courts, take these kinds of attempts to undermine our immigration laws.”