School smuggling pair are jailed

The pair had denied the charges

A man and woman have been jailed for a total of 16 years for running an illegal immigration scam in Shropshire.

Tai Chuan Low, known as Jimmy, 43, from Trench in Telford, and Joolee Torto, 37, from Croydon, south London, were found guilty after a four-week trial.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how they set up a false school, The Croydon Tutorial College, enabling them to supply false student visas.

The pair had denied charges of trafficking non-EU workers.

'Trust abused'

The court had been told how, in 2002, false student visas had been issued to more than 70 Malaysian nationals, some of whom had gone on to work in Shropshire.

The deception was uncovered when police pulled over three vans on the A5 Shrewsbury to Telford bypass.

Inside they found the Malaysians.

After the verdict, a police spokesman said they were relieved to have been found.

"I met a number of them who thanked the police for their intervention and the fact that they were abused, their trust was abused and they paid vast sums of money to get here" he said.

Judge Mark Eades sentenced Low to nine years and Torto to seven years.

• The college referred to in this story has no connection with Croydon Tutorial College, a legitimate further education institute in south London.