A £12,000 sham marriage bride from the infamous Benefits street has been jailed for 16 months. 37 years old Marcella Brotac, who lives on the infamous James Turner Street, Winson Green, had agreed to marry Harjeet Singh, 25, just 24 hours after meeting him.
She was convicted of conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration laws at Birmingham Crown Court in December and jailed on Friday at Northampton Crown Court.
She tried to deny the offence claiming she was in a loving relationship with Singh.
But she was convicted after her ‘husband to be’, of Florence Road, West Bromwich, admitted the same charge and gave evidence against her.
He was jailed for six months at an earlier hearing.
Both were part of a sham marriage ring run by Zaffar Abbas, 45, of Bescot Street, Walsall, and Davinder Singh, 40, also of Nineveh Road.
The pair charge Indian nationals up to £12,000 to be introduced to Eastern European brides allowing the Indians to remain in the UK past their visa expiration.
Abbas was jailed for six years and three months after being convicted of five counts of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law.
Singh, who would source the brides, was jailed for two years five months after being convicted of a single count of the same offence.
Abbas and Singh’s scam was rumbled by staff at Shrewsbury Registry Office – where all of the marriages were held.
Workers noticed brides and grooms knew nothing about each other and in some cases could not even speak the same language.
Five others who pleaded guilty to the same charge were also jailed for 16 months,
They were; Harpinger Singh, 23, of Nineveh Road, Handsworth, Vladimir Gazi, 40, of Hobgate Road, Wolverhampton.
Ivars Mizans, 34, of Dudley Street, West Bromwich. Gurpreet Kaur, 25, of Dudley Street, West Bromwich, and Zdenka Gaborova, 36, of Wallace Close, Oldbury.
Gabrova failed to attend court for sentence.
