When Olukayode Olusanya got married, he had no trouble recognising the assembled guests.
Sitting in the pews behind him was his girlfriend and their young daughter – one of four children they had together.
Although the wedding appeared real, it was a complete sham designed to allow him to stay in Britain
Her identity was then assumed by Olusanya’s long-term partner Esther Ogunrinde, 30.
The bogus ceremony allowed illegal immigrant Olusanya, and Ogunrinde – a failed asylum-seeker – to avoid being deported.
Nigerian-born Olusanya was able to work as a nursing assistant while his partner, posing as Sabina, worked as a care assistant and cleaner and continued to claim food vouchers intended for asylum seekers.
The couple kept their pretence going for three years, using fake documents to fool three employers. The identity swap even began before the wedding at St John’s Church in Moston, Manchester.
When Sabina was unable to attend the church to apply for the marriage banns, Ogunrinde stood in for her.
A court heard there was no suggestion that church officials had any idea the wedding might be a scam.
On a previous visit, the sham bride had set up a bank account and secured a National Insurance number in her name for Ogunrinde to use.
Months later, Sabina flew in for the big day and was paid £3,000 to act as a fake bride, a sham that included posing for wedding photographs in a white dress.
The trio were reunited this week when they were hauled into court to answer charges of breaking immigration laws.
Olusanya was jailed for 32 months after admitting two charges of conspiracy while Sabina was jailed for 16 months.
But Ogunrinde escaped a prison sentence after the judge took into account the fact she had four young children to look after.
Instead she must serve a 12-month suspended sentence and do 180 hours of unpaid work. Sentencing them at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Martin Steiger QC said the conspiracy had been ‘highly sophisticated’ with ‘ingenious features’.
But he said he could not ignore ‘humanitarian considerations’ in Ogunrinde’s case and jail her, since she had four children, ‘even if her continued reproduction’ had been in part an attempt to ‘cynically’ improve her hand with the authorities.
Gill Crossley, defending Olusanya, said he had wanted to do better for his family by remaining in the UK.
The scam, which dated back to 2008, was exposed in June when the UK Borders Agency received a tip-off.
John Dilworth, head of the CPS’s North West Complex Case Unit, said: ‘The marriage was a sham in an attempt to defeat the immigration rules that protect UK borders.
‘The Crown Prosecution Service will continue to pursue anyone involved in such offences and prosecute robustly.’
Immigration sources said the trio will be deported when they have served their sentences
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