FAKE marriages to keep illegal immigrants in the UK are being arranged at £3,000 a time in East Lancashire, it has emerged.

Vulnerable churches and registry offices are being exploited by gangs who take cash from failed asylum seekers to provide them a EU citizen 'wife'.

The cash-strapped women agree to marry a stranger for around £2,000 - £3,000 so that their new 'husband' can gain permanent UK residency.

At Preston Crown Court yesterday, Unchenna Peter Ezimorah, 36, of Seymour Street, Manchester, and Monika Slepcikova, 23, of Galloway Street, Liverpool, were both jailed for an immigration and marriage scam.

Nigerian national Ezimorah had earlier pleaded guilty to falsely claiming he lived in Richmond Street, Accrington, between May and June last year and providing a forged bank statement to the vicar at St Peter's Church, Cartmel Avenue, Accrington, in order to marry.

Seven-months pregnant Czech national and EU citizen Slepcikova admitted assisting unlawful immigration by marrying Ezimorah during a 'sparsely attended' sham ceremony on June 23, 2009.

Paul Murphy, prosecuting, said the couple had met for the first time one month before the wedding so that Slepcikova, a legal citizen in the UK since 2001, could hand her passport to Ezimorah.

She was paid £500 before the ceremony and £1,500 after the wedding and the two went their separate ways.

But a UKBA investigation into Ezimorah's subsequent application to remain found letters at his flat written by him, pretending to be from Slepcikova.

Kevin Donnelly, for Ezimorah, said he had come to the UK to attend a family event in 2007 with 'every intention' of staying in the country.

His vehicle spares company in Nigeria had twice been the victim of armed robbery and his life threatened.

Not wanting to return, he 'sought out' an unidentified person in Manchester and paid £3,000 for the administration and ceremony to be arranged.

Bob Sastri, for mother-of-one Slepcikova, said her dire financial situation had led to her 'foolishly' getting involved in the sham.

She was given eight months custody and Ezimorah 21 months by Judge Simon Newell in order to 'protect the integrity of marriage and the immigration system'.

Ezimorah will automatically be deported.

Police in Lancashire currently have five other investigations ongoing into 'fake marriages'.

Officers in the Immigration Crime Team have already made a number of arrests under the same ongoing operation.

The rise in North West cases is being investigated by a joint Immigration Crime Team made up of UK Borders Agency and police officers, based in Lancashire.