A BOGUS Czech bride who was jailed for her part in an Accrington sham marriage has had her sentence overturned - so she can give birth at home.

Mum-of-one Monika Slepcikova, 23, from Galloway Street, Liverpool, was seven months pregnant when she was jailed for eight months at Preston Crown Court last month for assisting unlawful immigration.

She had ‘foolishly’ agreed to wed Nigerian ‘groom’ Unchenna Peter Ezimorah, 36, for £2,000 so that he could try and stay in the UK.

Judge Simon Newell had jailed her in order to 'protect the integrity of marriage and the immigration system'.

However, three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London said she could walk free and was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year.

Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting on Thursday with Mr Justice Sweeney and Mrs Justice Slade, told how Slepcikova was short of cash when she committed the offence in June 2009.

She had been unable to resist the opportunity of solving her financial problems when a friend suggested that she take part in a sham marriage for money.

Struggling with a newborn baby, she accepted payments totalling £2,000 to marry Ezimorah, at a 'sparsely attended' sham ceremony on June 23, 2009, at St Peter's Church, Cartmel Avenue in Accrington.

She supplied her passport and bank paperwork as part of the scam, which was aimed at allowing Ezimorah to remain in the United Kingdom when he was not entitled to.

He was ultimately jailed for 21 months for his part in the scam and was deported.

Slepcikova's lawyers argued that the eight-month sentence was too tough and should be reduced to allow her to go free before the expected November delivery date of her second child.

Her first pregnancy had been difficult, involving a Caesarean Section while the fetus was in distress, and she was terrified about the impact of prison on her family, she told probation officers.

Lord Justice Picthford said: “There were particular factors which enabled the judge to suspend the sentence of imprisonment which he imposed - and this is what we propose to do.”