Sham marriages: Two men on the run over fake wedding racket involving 45 bogus relationships

A nationwide hunt is underway for the pair who include Nigerian-born Olatunji George, one of the masterminds behind the network that was among the biggest uncovered in the West Midlands and Staffordshire.

He and 28-year-old Slovakian Jozef Puzo separately skipped bail during two Wolverhampton Crown Court trials of suspects but were convicted in their absence by a jury that did not know they had fled.

On Monday, 11 people involved in the sham marriages racket were found guilty by jurors and now face prison and deportation.

The gang included a church pastor from Wolverhampton who recruited the bogus brides and grooms.

The jury's guilty verdicts on immigration offences came three years after the Home Office launched a probe. They are due to be sentenced on October 21.

Home Office Inspector Andy Radcliffe, regional manager for criminal investigations, said: "Both have got links to the UK. We are concentrating our efforts to find them on this country because there is no evidence they have left.

"They complied with the conditions of their bail for a long time before disappearing. Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall, realised they were facing prison and absented themselves."

BMW-driving George's home in Taylor Way, Tividale - head of administration for the gang - held an 'Aladdin's Cave' of information for Home Office officials.

It showed how the gang tried to get Africans living illegally in this country permission to remain in the UK indefinitely by fixing them up with a bogus bride, groom or fake long term partner from Eastern Europe. It even had a hard backed book packed with details of 34 of the transactions.

The law student's garage was transformed into an office packed with files, passports, folders and the fake documents used to support the claims of 45 bogus relationships. These provided investigators with over 60 suspects - several of whom were no longer in the country or could not be traced - and led to the arrest of key players and others involved in the network.

George, who had completed a module on immigration law, claimed to be paid up to £1,000-a-time to prepare a package of the correct documents and fill in the necessary paper work for the bogus applications. The bulk of these were on the basis of false relationships rather than sham marriages which carried a greater risk of detection.

He confessed to investigators: "I know it's a crime but I have got a family to feed. I would never put a gun to somebody's head but I do little things to make money for my family."

He worked closely with Church pastor Donald Nwachuckwu, aged 41, and a 43-year-old forger from Bilston, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

George also had links with Puzo, who lived in St Pauls Road, Smethwick and was suspected of being paid £750-a-time to help to find women and men from the Czech and Slovakian communities to take part in the racket. He disappeared on July 18 while George went on the run a week later. Neither has been seen since but details of their disappearance was kept secret until the end of two trials involving the sham marriage racket.

Anybody with information about the missing men is urged to contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.