4½ years for vicar who performed up to seven sham weddings a day
A VICAR who helped carry out nearly 250 sham marriages, pocketing £30,000 in proceeds, was called ‘disgraceful’ and ‘greedy’ by a judge yesterday. The Rev Brian Shipsides, 56, was jailed for four and a half years for arranging bogus ceremonies for African nationals to European citizens so they could stay in Britain. The vicar, whose motivation was described as financial, travelled around the world on the money. Most of the bogus couples, who were being married at a rate of seven a day at one point, had already been refused leave to remain in Britain. Sentencing him, Judge Peter Grobel said: ‘Your important role in this conspiracy was a disgraceful abuse of your calling as an ordained minister of the Church. ‘Your criminal conduct appears to have been motivated as much by arrogance as by greed.’ The judge said Shipsides pocketed £30,264 in undeclared fees. He added: ‘There really is no mitiand,
‘Disgraceful abuse of your calling’
gation in respect of this type of offending which undermines UK immigration law, threatens the benefit system and exploits the lives of many vulnerable and desperate people.’ David Walbank, prosecuting, said the sham marriages, at All Saints Church in Forest Gate, East London, were ‘meticulously planned’. Nigerian fixer Amudalat Ladipo, 31, arranged for European citizens to fly to Britain and marry African nationals to give the latter enhanced rights to remain in the country. Shipsides, who lives with his male partner in Dagenham, Essex, presided over almost all of the marriages. He charged £140 a time instead of handing the money to the diocese and the Parish Church Council, pocketed it. The banns, the traditional public announcement of an intention to marry, were not read and forged residential documents and utility bills were used. The conspiracy, which the prosecution called a ‘massive and systematic immigration fraud’ was brought to a halt in July 2010, when Ladipo was arrested after a tip- off from another vicar. There was no suspicion even then that Shipsides was involved. Indeed, police believed he would make a good witness. Mr Walbank said: ‘ It’s now clear this was a bit of play acting on his part. ‘ Initially his ruse succeeded. Perhaps not surprisingly, the police did not at first regard this Church of England vicar as a suspect. On the contrary, they saw him as a potentially important witness.’ However, the police soon realised Shipsides was involved. Mr Walbank pointed to the frequency of weddings, which increased 16-fold during the scam, compared to a similar period. He added: ‘Shipsides knew the vast majority of the marriages were a sham and that their purpose was to breach the immigration laws of this country.’ James Lachkovic, mitigating, said the vicar’s role in the scam was a ‘ humanitarian gesture’ designed to help Nigerians persecuted in their own country because they were Christian. Shipsides, who is in the Guinness Book of Records for officiating over the marriage of the world’s tallest couple, had been parish priest at the church for 13 years. The vicar, whose father was a policeman, had ‘dedicated his life to the service of others’, Mr Lachkovic added. Shipsides had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate breaches of immigration law. Miss Ladipo claimed she had acted under duress from her husband – who she is believed to have entered into a sham marriage with at the same church. But the prosecution said she had been ‘actively involved in the conspiracy’ before she was married. She was called a ‘ marriage fixer’ by the judge and jailed for three years. Andy Russell, who led the investigation for the UK Border Agency, said the scale of the scam was ‘staggering’.