A bride was arrested just moments before she was due to walk down the aisle for a sham marriage to secure herself a UK visa.
Immigration officials swooped on Lambeth registry office as Emmaculate Lumnwi, 29, and Nika Lokko, 35, prepared to exchange their vows.
Lumnwi, from Cameroon, moved to the UK in 2011 on a student visa, but was turned down when she applied to stay permanently. She enlisted Lokko, an NHS facilities manager, to pose as her husband-to-be at the bogus ceremony on March 3 last year.
Lokko, who is already married with children, used a French passport under the name of Messangan Sergio Kouye in a bid to fool officials.
But suspicions were raised when they applied for the marriage, and the registry office alerted the Home Office.
When questioned, Lumnwi claimed she had sex with Lokko, calling himself Kouye, the day before they were due to marry and that they were a couple. But when his true identity was revealed, she said she thought sex was just hugging and passionately kissing and that they did that the day before.
Judge Nigel Seed QC said Lumnwi also gave herself away by calling Lokko by his real name at the registry office.
Lokko had papers in his own name in his car as he drove to the ceremony.
A jury at Inner London crown court found Lumnwi, of Tulse Hill, and Lokko, of Camberwell, guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to a member state and convicted Lokko of possessing an identity card with intent.
The pair were bailed until a sentencing hearing on October 13.
The court heard Lokko is a naturalised British citizen, having moved to the UK from Togo in 2003. During the trial, he claimed he was standing in for a friend — Kouye — who could not make it as he was in Paris with his sick mother.
Lokko claimed so-called proxy marriages were common in his country, and he was “ignorant” they are illegal in the UK. Lumnwi and Lokko denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to a member state. Lokko denied possessing an identity card with intent.
