26-year-old Bindaya Dalal was due to receive a fee of £6,000 for getting married for third time earlier this year, despite having never divorced either of her two previous spouses. The UK Border Agency became suspicious after Dalal applied to marry at Hammersmith and Fulham register office in April. The third husband lined up was an African student, although the authorities intervened before the bogus marriage could go ahead.

A 37-year-old London underground worker, Ola Kukete was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his part in arranging the would-be scam marriage. It’s understood that Kukete set-up the sham marriage and received £2,000 for his part in the immigration scam.

The serial bogus bride however, insisted that she had not received the £6,000 promised to her for marrying a third man in order for him to remain in the UK. Dalal said she agreed to the bogus marriage, her third in 6 years, as she needed the money to pay off her debts.

The phoney bride, who is currently living on benefits, married a West African man in 2005 and in 2009 married for the second time, despite having never divorced her first husband, again the new husband was not a British citizen and was reported to be an Indian man.

Dalal walked free from court this week, but was ordered to carry 120 hours of unpaid work and handed a three month jail sentence suspended for 12 months.

24-year-old Neil McElwee and his fiancée, Yanan San who is originally from China, were arrested along with three other members of their wedding party when the police swooped on the ceremony which was about to take place at the Guildhall in Londonderry.

The police claimed they were acting on a tip-off and arrested the bride and groom as they prepared to marry last week as they suspected the marriage was taking place to ensure the Chinese bride could stay in the country.

However the bride-to-be, 19-year-old Yanan San who is four months pregnant, had all the correct paperwork in place in order. One member of the wedding party who was arrested along with the couple and two other guests has not been released as there were issues regarding this person’s right to be in the UK.

The authorities have since issued an apology to the bride and groom after discovering they are in fact a genuine couple have been together for a year and are expecting their first child together.

However the apology is too little too late as far as 24-year-old groom is concerned as the couple were forced to cancel their wedding as they were taken away and questioned separately by police, with pregnant Yanan being interrogated for more than five hours.

Neil and Yanan did manage to have their big day, albeit a low key affair more than 24 hours after the planned wedding with just a handful of family and friends present. The newlyweds are planning to make a formal complaint to the police.

The 19-year-old Polish bride was lead away by a plain clothes officer

A sham wedding was stopped in its tracks after immigration police swooped on the registry office in Oxfordshire on Tuesday after a tip-off from the registrar.

The bride, still wearing her wedding gown and veil, and the groom were taken away in handcuffs by the police. Two witnesses, also present at the wedding-that-never-was, were also arrested on suspicion of assisting illegal immigration.

The 19-year-old Polish bride was due to marry the 30-year-old Indian groom until the registrar blew the whistle after having doubts about the couple’s wish to wed.

On the wedding day, the couple were taken into a side room prior to the ceremony. This allowed officers time to get into position before descending on the side room, arresting the waiting bride and groom.

Sham weddings are on the rise in the UK. 529 bogus weddings were reported last year, which is a 54% rise on the previous year. Due to the dramatic jump in the number of reported cases of marriages for passports, the police have launched a crackdown and have been enlisting the help of registrars in their quest to stamp out the practice.

Registrars often flag up cases of potential bogus marriages. Before a couple can tie the knot, they need to have an interview with the registrar in order to give notice of the marriage. If the registrar feels there’s something disingenuous about the couple’s wish to marry, he or she is obliged to alert the authorities.

The groom has been charged with two counts of perjury and has been remanded in custody as police fear he could flee if granted bail. The bride has been released after receiving a police caution for perjury.