THE ringleader of a sham marriage gang which arranged eight illegal weddings in Blackburn has been jailed for four years.

Muhammed 'Jimmy' Amir paid Portuguese brides to come to the UK to marry Pakistani men whose student visas had expired.

MORE TOP STORIES:

His gang was jailed for a total of more than nine years at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.

Sentencing, His Honour Judge Richard Mansell QC labelled Amir's actions 'a gross abuse of the institution of marriage'.

The weddings took place at Blackburn Register Office, in Northgate, between February 2012 and June 2013, with grooms paying Amir up to £8,000 a time.

The fake couples were caught out after the ceremonies took place when interviewed by immigration officials, who noticed they could not speak the same language and knew little about each other.

Amir and Diana Fernandes Moreira-Miguel, a Portuguese national recruited by Amir to act as an interpreter, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law by a non-EU person.

Amir, who also organised a further sham marriage in Manchester, booked flights between Portugal and the UK for the 'brides' using his partner's phone.

Moreira-Miguel, who was the bride in one of the marriages, was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Due to time already served on remand, she will be allowed to return to Porto to care for her daughter, who has cerebral palsy.

Four Pakistani 'grooms' - Muhammed Zeeshan Shafqat, 21, Mobeen Ashraf, 25, Mudassar Ali, 24, and Muhammed Asrar, 25 - were jailed for one year after pleasing guilty to pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

All six guilty parties had addresses in Manchester and were arrested in March this year.

Speaking after the sentencing, James Brokenshire, Minister for Security and Immigration at the Home Office, said: "This case sends a clear message to the criminals who think they can cheat our immigration laws. Our dedicated investigative teams will catch you, and you will be imprisoned."

Several other Pakistani 'grooms' and Portuguese 'brides' returned to their home countries without facing prosecution.

Dave Magrath, from Home Office Criminal Investigations, added: "The gang clearly thought they could profit from abusing the marriage system and the UK’s immigration laws.

"These individuals were prepared to marry people they barely knew in an attempt to cheat the immigration system."