Visa-scam wedding planner jailed

Manneh was jailed for 24 months at Paisley Sheriff Court

A bogus wedding planner who married Scots brides to African men has been jailed for two years.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard how Gambia-born Lamin Manneh, 36, from Woodley in Reading, took thousands of pounds from men who wanted to remain in the UK.

He was caught after using his own name and address at registry offices between April 2006 and February 2007.

Manneh had apparently been nicknamed "the wedding planner" because he turned up at so many weddings.

At an earlier hearing Manneh pleaded guilty to arranging marriages in Paisley on five occasions.

It seems a scheme like this could not be carried out if people like you were not willing to put it into practice Sheriff James Spy

He also admitted his part in two further sham marriages in Renfrew and two others at Glasgow's Park Circus Registry Office.

The court was told that the nine African men involved had entered the UK under limited visas.

They had paid Manneh £500 each to arrange their fake marriages.

The men then paid between £1,000 and £2,000 to woman in Paisley, who had agreed go take part.

If the scam was not discovered within two years, they could have applied for permanent residence.

Sheriff James Spy said it was in the public interest to make an example of Manneh to deter such crime.

He said: "It is said you are not Mr Big. But it seems a scheme like this could not be carried out if people like you were not willing to put it into practice."