Sham marriage matchmaker flew partners into the UK on easyJet so they could marry desperate Nigerians (Pictures)

Irene Lopes de Oliveria, a mum-of-three, sorted it out for Portuguese nationals to fly into the UK and marry desperate Nigerian overstayers who wanted EU citizenship

Jailed Toluwaleke Daniel Adeleye, 30

An illegal matchmaker who arranged for her partner to marry another woman has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Mum-of-three Irene Lopes de Oliveria, 36, arranged for Portuguese nationals to be brought into the country on easyJet flights before marrying Nigerian overstayers who were desperate to get EU citizenship.

She even arranged for the father of her three children, Gilson De Carvalho, to marry another woman, Olubukola Olaniran, while living with him in Gorton .

Gilson De Carvalho, married Olubukola Olaniran

Sending her down, Judge Hilary Manley said: “Not only do these offences strike at the very heart of our national security arrangements, they do genuine harm to those who genuinely marry non-EU nationals...this is the arranging of sham marriages on an organised and commercial scale.”

The marriages all took place at Salford and Manchester Register offices, between September 2011 and April 2013. Manchester Crown Court heard proceeds from the racket helped Lopes de Oliveria fund an online gambling habit.

Jailed Olubukola Olaniran, 28, of Erith, south London

She was arrested in Manchester on 4 July 2013, at her home address, following a probe by an Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations team.

Investigators learnt £74,000 in unaccounted for sums had passed through accounts connected to her.
Now Lopes has been locked up alongside the people whose sham weddings she organised.

They include Manchester University law graduate Toluwaleke Daniel Adeleye, 30, of Camp Street, Salford, who has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Matchmaker, Irene Lopez De Oliveira also Jailed

Adeleye’s Portuguese bride left the country three days after they tied the knot, and remains at large. When he was questioned by investigators he couldn’t remember the date of his wedding.

Another of the brides recruited for the scam, Ingride Semedo, 28, was sentenced to 22 months in the same hearing. Semedo, of Jepson Street,Abbey Hey, admitted a single count conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and has been sentenced to 22 months.

Lopes de Oliveria, of Hexham Road, Gorton, admitted four counts of conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration. Gilson De Carvalho admitted two counts of conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration and possessing an identity document with improper intent and has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Olubukola Olaniran, 28, of Erith, south London, admitted two counts of the same offence and had been jailed for 32 months.

Ben Thomas, from Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations, said: “This was a thorough and successful investigation by our team of specialist investigators. The message to anyone tempted to get involved with this sort of criminality is clear. We have the resource, expertise and dedication to catch you, and put you before the courts.”