Vicar jailed for celebrating 360 sham marriages

LONDON – A Church of England vicar who oversaw hundreds of sham marriages to help migrants settle illegally in Britain was jailed…

LONDON – A Church of England vicar who oversaw hundreds of sham marriages to help migrants settle illegally in Britain was jailed for four years yesterday.

Rev Alex Brown (61) presided over 360 bogus ceremonies over four years at his small parish church in St Leonards, East Sussex.

Eastern European women were paid up to £3,000 (€3,600) a time to help men, mostly Nigerians, bypass UK immigration laws and settle in Britain.

Of the hundreds of people Rev Brown married at his church, 90 couples were registered as living on one road in the parish.

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The sham marriages took place outside normal church hours. – (PA)