Iraqi immigrant jailed after being found working
3:17pm Tuesday 6th May 2008
AN IRAQI who used a tampered document in order to earn £22,000 has been jailed for six months.
Arf Khader had been barred from looking for work under the terms of his immigration application registration card.
The document was altered to give the impression that he could qualify for employment and he got work as a packer before the truth came to light.
Now the 29-year-old, from Mosul, who spent $5,000 to travel to the UK in the back of a lorry, has been sent to prison.
The judge said the offence struck at the heart of an important immigration system and his actions had been deliberate and fraudulent.
Khader of Audley Range, Blackburn, denied obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, but was convicted by a jury following atrial.
Preston Crown Court heard that the Iraqi, who came to this country in 2003, had become an illegal immigrant.
He went on to claim asylum and was granted temporary admission to the UK, with certain conditions.
John O'Shea, prosecuting, said one of those conditions was not to enter into employment, paid or unpaid.
This was explained to him at the time by an immigration officer.
Khader was issued with an application registration card.
His claim for asylum failed and all his rights were exhausted by February 2004.
The offence came to light when he applied for a provisional driving licence in January 2006.
His registration card was among documentation that was sent in.
Charles Brown, defending, said Khader came to this country after his father was killed in Iraq.
In sending him to jail, the judge, Recorder William Waldron QC, told him: "That sort of behaviour strikes at the very heart of one very critical part of a system which is very often under public scrutiny."