A BOGUS bride has been jailed for her part in a wedding scam after marrying men to allow them to gain entrance to the UK.

Sonal Soyantar, 35, was a fake bride in three separate wedding ceremonies involv-ing Indian men, two of which were registered at Blackburn Register Office.

She was sentenced to 16 months in prison after admitting three counts of bigamist marriages to help others obtain British citizenship.

Rachael Woods, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court that Soyantar, also from India, had been married a total of five times, the first two marriages being legitimate.

But two months after her second legitimate marriage she took part in a further wedding ceremony in India to a man called Arif Bashir Patel, during which she claimed her uncle had arranged the marriage.

The following July she married Mahmad Sajid Patel at Blackburn Register Office, who claimed to be living in the Whalley Range area of Blackburn, and during the ceremony she declared her previous marriage had been disolved.

And on July 29, 2005 she took part in a Muslim ceremony to wed Saleem Sedat performed in a house and conducted by a priest.

Shortly afterwards, suspicions were raised and a report was done by the Home Office, leading to police raiding her home in Gregson Field, Bolton on February 17 this year.

The court was told that police discovered she was hiding a carrier bag under her duvet which contained a number of passports under different names and other false ID documents.

Mark Stuart, defending, claimed a man, described as "Mr Big" met her and exploited her while she was living alone in Bolton following the break-down of her first marriage.

Speaking after the sentencing Det Con Tariq Javed, of Blackburn's Community Cohesion Team, said: "Mr Big' has been spoken to and there is no evidence to suggest that he has done anything wrong or she was being forced into the marriages, so we have asked for her to be deported."

Judge Anthony Russell QC said it had been a "flagrant abuse of the system".

He added: "Had you wanted to escape from the situation you could have gone to the authorities. These offences are so serious that the only proper sentence is one if imprisonment. It's because of this sort of offence that public confidence in the immigration system is undermined.

"It is necessary for there to be an element of deterrent in the sentencing."

The court was told that Soyantar applied to the High Commission in Mumbai in 1999 to legitimately marry a man called Sonal Chetan Narsih who was already living in the UK.

She became a victim of domestic violence, their marriage ended in divorce and she was forced to seek refuge at a women's centre in Bolton.

The court was told at around the same time Ilyas Yakub Haji applied the High Commission in Mumbai to enter the UK as a holiday maker.

The application was refused but granted four years later and on September 24, 2004 the pair legitimately married in Blackburn.

Mr Stuart said: "She is a woman of good character who came to this country legitimately in expectation of a reasonable and prosperous marriage.

"Unfortunately she ended up in a women's refuge, alone and vulnerable.

"She was placed by the local authority into housing in an area where many were involved in the use of supply of drugs. She was living on her won with limited knowledge of the English language.

"It was against that background that the man she mentions in both interviews met her and exploited her. She had little or no reward.

"She was frightened, she was scared if she didn't do as she was told he would be violent towards her.

Det Con Javed added: "The people involved in this are making big sums of money. They are charging between £10,000 and £15,000 for a bogus marriage to obtain citizenship in the UK.

"This result sends out a strong message that we do take this kind of offence extremely seriously."

Non UK nationals from Lancashire can now only get married in Blackburn in an attempt to pick up on any bogus marriages.

Soyantar's fifth husband has been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting her to commit bigamy. He has been released on bail pending further inquiries.