'Sham' wedding stopped by police

A sham wedding in Northamptonshire was stopped after the bride, groom and best man were arrested.

The UK Border Agency said the groom, from Portugal, and his bride, from Nigeria, were arrested on suspicion of facilitating a sham marriage.

The Nigerian best man was also arrested just before the couple were due to wed at a church in Great Billing, Northampton, earlier this week.

All three have been bailed by Northamptonshire Police.

Sign language

A witness at the ceremony, also from Nigeria, was also arrested as he was found to be an illegal entrant to the UK.

He was taken into immigration detention where he will remain until he is removed from the UK in the next few days.

It emerged during questioning that the bride, who is six-and-a-half months pregnant, and the groom could not understand each other's languages and communicated by sign language.

The UK Border Agency said enquiries are continuing.

Gail Adams, UK Border Agency regional director, said: "We will not tolerate immigration abuse and will punish those who break the immigration laws.

"Over recent years we have clamped down on sham marriages introducing Certificates of Approval, family permits and encouraged registrars to highlight suspicious cases."

She added that the number of suspected sham marriages fell from more than 3,500 in 2004 to fewer than 400 in 2008.