A WOMAN SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS FOR TRYING TO WED FOURTH ‘HUSBAND’

Raquel De Andrade, 22 (pictured being led away by border police) was one of the UK’s most prolific sham brides, using the same wedding dress at every ceremony. De Andrade, from Tottenham, north London, admitted bigamy, perjury and facilitation and was jailed for two years this week at Harrow Crown Court. Her fourth groom, aged 32 and from Nigeria, was arrested (inset) and has since been expelled from the country.

This was a cynical attempt to bypass immigration controls, De Andrade thought her plot would go unnoticed but our officers were one step ahead of the game and stopped the couple in their track, Sarah Burton, head of the West London Home Office immigration enforcement team, said:

‘We are working closely with registrars across London and the UK to clamp down on sham weddings and civil partnerships. These convictions are examples of the success we are having.

‘Where there are suspicions that a relationship may not be genuine we will investigate and, if necessary, intervene to stop it happening.’

Susan Hall, leader of Harrow council, said: ‘We are working closely with the Home Office to tackle this issue. Our registrars are trained to spot and report marriages that may not be genuine. This serves as a clear warning that a jail term could await those who try to abuse the system.’

The hunt is still on for her three other husbands so they can be expelled too.

It is estimated that 15,000 of the marriages that take place in England and Wales each year are bogus. Most fake husbands are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria.