British church minister jailed for 4 years after performing hundreds of sham marriages

UK reverend jailed for 4 years over sham marriages

LONDON — A British judge has sentenced a Church of England minister to four years in jail for his part in a sham-marriage scam.

Rev. Alex Brown was convicted last month of conspiring to facilitate the commission of breaches of immigration laws. Two other men were also convicted in the scam.

Judge Richard Hayward said Monday the women “were vulnerable to being exploited and they agreed to marry for money.”

The marriage register of Brown’s church, St. Leonards-on-Sea, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of London, was shown to jurors during the trial. Of 383 weddings between 2005 and 2009, 360 involved couples where the women were from Europe and the grooms were African.