An immigration official who made a fortune by lett
An immigration official who made a fortune by letting into Britain the people he was supposed to be keeping out is facing jail today.
Civil service traitor Guy Emmett, 35, rubber stamped the passports of up to 600 illegal immigrants allowing them to stay in the country for good.
Emmett, who worked at Gatwick Airport, set up his own immigration consultancy using stamps which should have never left the office.
Each immigrant paid more than pnds stlg 3,000 and Emmett admitted spending a staggering pnds stlg 250,000 in just eight months to fund living expenses alone.
The corrupt civil servant drove a TVR sports car, invested in a string of houses and even had time to start his own double glazing company.
He told the court: ‘I did have a lavish lifestyle’ but claimed most of the money came from doing up written off cars – another of his sideline businesses.
The reality was together with Nigerian partner Christian Jideofo, 40, Emmett conned the authorities for almost five years.
The court heard he worked at Gatwick’s south terminal from early 1992 until the date of his resignation on June 11, 1996.
He began seeing another worker there, Elizabeth Davidson, who was to marry Emmett and was also accused of involvement in trafficking immigrants.
The court heard Emmett ‘grossly abused’ the trust placed in him and allowed undesirable immigrants into the country
He ‘systematically endorsed the passports of foreign nationals, who had no leave to remain in this country, with stamps on their passports, that when shown to other immigration officers or the police would be accepted on face value,’ said prosecutor Mr Mark Gadsden.
‘No less than 76 beneficiaries of this conspiracy have been identified by the prosecuting authorities,’ said Mr Gadsden.
‘It is however the Crown’s contention that the total number of people who benefited from their criminality is substantially more than that.
‘Significantly 76 is only the visible tip of a much larger iceberg.
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Jideofo was a qualified lawyer who ran an immigration consultancy in Kilburn, northwest London.
‘Instead of upholding the law he joined in in the conspiracy and persuaded those who came to him for advice not to uphold the law but to break the law,’ said Mr Gadsden.
Emmett would give immigrants an entry stamp and a ‘false handwritten stamp’ giving them indefinite leave to remain here.
The immigrants were also given stamps that allowed them re-entry into the UK via any port of entry as ‘returning residents from any trip abroad.
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At Jideofo’s offices on the Kilburn High Road prospective customers only had to provide a thumb print for a new passport to be obtained for them.
Immigrants were handed sheets of paper from Jideofo headed ‘don’t panic’ with a series of answers they should give in the event of being stopped by officials and quizzed about their passports.
Emmett also had immigration consultancy offices Stephen Goodfellow and Co in Bentham Road, Thornton Heath which charged pnds stlg 3,150 for the complete passport service.
The crooked civil servant used his ‘port of entry stamp’ to endorse the passports at the office which should never have been removed from Gatwick.
When using the stamp, Emmett would cover the identification number with a piece of paper so it would not be printed on the passport.
Emmett of Furze Lane, Purley, Surrey, and Jideofo, of Kingston Road, New Barnet, north London, denied conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to facilitate the entry of illegal immigrants between January 5, 1992 and June 12, 1996 but were convicted of both charges by the jury after nearly four hours deliberation.
Mrs Emmett, 30, was cleared at the end of the prosecution on the direction of Judge Timothy Pontius who found there was insufficient evidence for a safe conviction.
Judge Pontius remanded Emmett and Jideofo in custody until Friday when he will sentence the pair.
The prosecution announced today that they will be pursuing Emmett in relation to money and assets he is believed to have salted away from the fraud.
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