Faust Abolore plotted to gain British
citizenship by putting 44-year-old Anthony Ezekpo’s name on her son’s birth
certificate and a subsequent passport application.
However, she was caught when
photographs of the child’s real father, Nigerian national Peter Gentry, were
posted on Facebook, showing him cradling the boy at a naming ceremony. See
previous post here
Inner London crown court heard that Abolore
got a job as a care home assistant in 2011 with a bogus Portuguese passport,
and had twice been turned down for leave to remain in 2013 and 2014.
Sentencing Abolore and Ezekpo to 18 months
each, Judge Mark Bishop said:
"These sort of offences undermine
confidence in the system of immigration control. You, Abolore, were seeking to
cheat your way into being allowed to remain in this country. Ezekpo, you agreed
to help her in making that possible."
Abolore, who was living with Mr Gentry in
Erith, gave birth at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich on August 6, 2014.
Prosecutor Alex Mills said:
"Ms Abolore entered an agreement with Mr
Ezekpo whereby he would pretend to be the father of that child." The pair
went to a register office and signed the birth certificate which said Ezekpo
was the boy’s father and claimed they lived together in Erith. "There had
been a payment of £1,000 which coincided with the visit to the register
office," said Mr Mills.
In November 2014, Abolore applied for leave to
remain in the UK, based on the birth of the child. However, the Facebook photos
of Mr Gentry undermined their story, and it emerged that Ezekpo lived in the
North East. Mr Mills said Abolore’s use of a false passport to get the care
assistant job emerged during the police investigation, when detectives found a
passport bearing Abolore’s picture but a different name.
The court heard that Abolore still insists
that Ezekpo is the child’s father. Abolore and Ezekpo, of Winlaton, near
Gateshead, were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to breach immigration law
and gi. Source: Evening Standard
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