Reverend Nathan Ntege, 55, is not only a Vicar in Thornton Heath, South of London, but has also been recognized as having arranged the most number of sham marriages in the history of Britain. He has been accused of having supervised around 500 weddings at St. Jude’s with St. Aiden’s church and is part of an illegal immigration gang.
The trial was conducted on the 9th of September at the Inner London Crown Court where Ntege stood with his accomplices Brian Miller, 81, a verger at the Church; Maudlyn Riviere, 67; Galina Petkova 51; Georgia Forteath,34; Innocent Odoh,34 and Angela Pelachie, 54.
The jury was sworn in after ensuring they had no connections with the UK border agency, the Diocese of Southwark, St. Jude’s with St. Aiden’s or St. John’s Church in Waterloo.
Ntege has been charged with 14 offences related to marriages carried out for illegal immigration purposes. He has also been indicted for fraud of not having paid the marriage fees 69,498 pounds to the Diocese of Southwark.
Petkova has been allegedly serving as the mediator for most of these marriages and has infact also been married in one of these sham weddings herself. The charges were formulated following an investigation carried out by the South London Criminal and Financial Investigation Unit of the UK Border Agency (UKBA).
Netge had been initially arrested in the 2011 on the basis of the possibility that he had facilitated fake marriages. Consequently, the church was searched during the investigation and Miller was also arrested, after informing the Diocese of Southwark and the Church of England.
The detail of the charges faced by this group is as follows:
Ntege, belonging to Dunheaved Road North, Thornton Heath, was charged with fourteen offences relating to the breach of the United Kingdom immigration law and one of illicit use of position. Ntege has denied all these charges. Riviere, of Lucerne Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon, is facing fifteen charges of allowing breach of the United Kingdom Immigration Law. Miller, of Owl Close, South Croydon, has been accused of seven offences again relating to impingement of the UK immigration Law. Petkova, of Shrubbery Road, Enfield, North London, also faces the same charges as Miller. Forteath, of South Norwood, South London, has been help answerable for the only two charges of breaching the UK immigration law. Pelachie, of Florida Road, Croydon, denies both charges of allowing breach of UK immigration law as well that of deception regarding UK immigration law between the period of 20th April 2010 and 10th January 2011. Odoh, hailing from Brownhill Road, Lewisham, southeast London, has been held accountable for being responsible for breach of the UK immigration law. Apart from this, there was also a charge of deceit with relation to the United Immigration law between the dates of 18th May 2011 and 29th February 2012.
A trial date has been set for November the 4th and has been programmed to last for about three to four weeks.