A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of a man at the centre of an international fake marriage racket after he did not attend court to be sentenced.

Ismail Pirbhai, of Dartford Close, Blackburn, instructed his counsel to tell a judge at Preston Crown Court that he would rather be sentenced on Tuesday morning.

The reason for this, the court was told, was that he did not wish to be sentenced on the same day as one of his co-accused.

He also told his counsel that he had concerns that if he was sentenced on the same day as Ibrahim Patel they may end up serving their sentence at the same location.

No reason was given in court as to why this was a concern although the court was told that previous allegations during Pirbhai's original trial had been rejected by the judge at the time because they were felt to be untruthful.

Pirbhai has been convicted on four counts of facilitating entry to the United Kingdom of people who would not otherwise be entitled to by arranging false marriages.

Prosecuting counsel, Henry Globe, successfully applied for an arrest warrant to be issued after he told the court that it was unacceptable for a defendant to try and choose when they wanted to be sentenced.

Three other people involved in the international fake marriages racket were due to be sentenced today, while another three have been adjourned until September 6.

The cases adjourned include that of Robert Pickles, a Blackburn solicitor, who the court was told was currently out of the country.