A KEIGHLEY 'couple' have been jailed for three years each after a jury found them guilty of going through a sham marriage.

Cleaner Eva Dankova, 42, claimed that she had married "overstayer" Muhammed Khalil for love, but suspicions about their relationship were raised when she spelled his surname wrong and there was no interaction between during an pre-wedding interview.

Yesterday Khalil, 34, and his 'wife', who was actually still married to a Slovakian man, were both locked up after Judge Jonathan Rose said they were complete strangers who had sought to benefit from a sordid conspiracy.

It emerged that Dankova, who was also found guilty of bigamy, had been involved in two earlier attempts to marry foreign nationals.

Judge Rose said he believed that a least one other person had been involved in organising the sham marriages and it may have been that the same person had sought out Dankova to go through the wholly fictitious and sham marriage to Khalil.

Bradford Crown Court heard that pizza chef Khalil, of Devonshire Street West, Keighley, had been desperate to stay in this country when his study visa ran out and marrying an EU national was the only way he could remain.

Judge Rose said it was a proper inference to draw that Dankova would receive money for her role and he added:"What she did was not for love and not for affection, but for financial gain."

The judge said the institution of marriage was still highly respected and it was never to be used as "the plaything of criminals".

He said the rules about who could live in the UK were there to protect citizens and society and such offending caused concern and doubt about other students who enter the country to study.

"Each such student will carry just a little bit more suspicion about them because of what you have done," the judge told Khalil.

Judge Rose said he had not the slightest doubt that Khalil instigated the conspiracy and he noted that even after the wedding had taken place at Keighley Town Hall the defendants lived together at Khalil's home in case anyone came to check on them.

"I am satisfied it was a complete sham," the judge said.

"You were just putting on a front that you were a married couple. You were nothing of the sort."

Judge Rose said the jail sentences were both a punishment for the two defendants and a deterrent to anybody else who thought that easy money could be made from fraudulent marriages.

"You have continued to spin a web of lies before this jury and they have not been fooled at all," said the judge.

The defendants now face deportation at the end of their jail sentences.

After gthe case, Emma Lee, of Immigration Enforcement’s crime team for West Yorkshire, said: “This was a cynical attempt to cheat the UK’s immigration laws.

"Dankova and Khalil could not even communicate in the same language and even used crib sheets to remember facts about one another.

“Foreign nationals who believe a sham wedding is their route to staying in the UK should think again.

"Our specialist investigators work hard to identify suspicious marriages, and we will not hesitate to act where we believe a relationship is not genuine.

“Whether you are a participant or an organiser, you will end up in prison.”