Fake lawyer who conned immigration officials fails to get jail term cut
A man who phoned top judges pretending to be a solicitor trying to stop a woman being deported, has been told he deserves every day of his jail term.
Mohammed Kabba, 52, of Church Street, Tipton, managed to delay the deportation of the Nigerian woman by conning Home Office officials with false documents.
He was jailed for 16 months at Birmingham Crown Court in July after being convicted of perverting the course of public justice.
Kabba's crime involved the immigration case of illegal over-stayer, Edith Asoluka, Judge Anthony Morris QC told London's Court of Appeal on Friday.
She was due to be deported on a plane to Lagos, Nigeria, but that was stopped when Kabba audaciously intervened, faxing false case details to Home Office officials.
He telephoned High Court judge, Mr Justice Mitting, in February 2013 to make an out-of-hours legal application.
And when the judge ruled against him he tried his luck again, this time calling Court of Appeal judge, Lord Justice Richards, but was again turned down. But his intervention extended Miss Asoluka's stay in the UK by more than a month.
Judge Morris said Kabba had a 'misguided, genuine belief' that Miss Asoluka deserved to stay in the UK. She was finally deported on March 21, 2013 but the extra cost of keeping her at the detention centre for longer than planned was just over £2,000.
Sierra Leone national Kabba, who had six previous convictions, argued his jail term was too tough. But Judge Morris said there was 'no merit' in his complaints.
His punishment was 'neither wrong in principle nor excessive', the judge concluded.
