Bridegroom who couldn't remember the name of the woman he planned to marry is jailed for attempting to break UK immigration laws

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A bridegroom who couldn’t remember the name of the woman he planned to marry has been jailed for attempting to undergo a bogus wedding to cheat immigration laws.

Zubair Khan, 28, from Pakistan, was meeting with a registrar in Hull to fix the wedding but had to make a phone call to marriage fixer Khaliq Dad Khan to ask who he was marrying.

Both Khans were jailed yesterday for 20 months at Hull Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law. The bride, Beata Szilagyi, 33, from Hungary, was jailed for 17 months after admitting the same offence. All three were arrested on October 9 at Hull Register Office.

Andy Sharpe, of Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations, said: "This was a farcical but nonetheless serious attempt to cheat the UK's immigration laws.

"At a pre-wedding registrar appointment, Zubair Khan could not even remember the name of his prospective bride.

"We continue to crack down on sham marriage abuse, and we work very closely with registrars to identify suspicious marriages. We will not hesitate to act where we believe a relationship is not genuine.”

Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said: "Last year, our investigators intervened in more than 2,400 suspected sham marriages - almost twice as many as the year before. The new Immigration Act, which became law last year, gives us a much stronger platform to identify, disrupt and deter marriages which are not genuine."