An illegal immigrant caught working at a city factory obtained the job using a false passport, a court heard.
Kuljit Singh, who was given accommodation with the job, at Euro Dyes Ltd, Saffron Lane, also obtained a UK driving licence and a National Insurance card in his name.
He pleaded guilty to possessing the false Portuguese passport, with improper intention, between January last year and June 5 this year. Singh, 25, was jailed for six months.
Sentencing him at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Simon Hammond said: “There’s huge public concern about people who overstay and it must be understood if people do that and use forged documents they must expect to go to prison. The matter of deportation, at the end of the sentence, is for the Home Office.”
Alan Murphy, prosecuting, said that on June 4 police and immigration officers entered the fabric dyeing factory and found people there, including the defendant, in accommodation at the rear of the factory. In the defendant’s bedroom the police found a false passport in the defendant’s name with his photograph in it.
“Records at the factory confirmed he’d used the passport and National Insurance card to get his job there.
“In interview he made admissions, saying he came to the UK from India on a student visa in 2010, which expired in January 2012 and he’d overstayed, having made no application for an extension. He said he bought the passport for £450 18 months earlier in order to obtain work.”
Sian Cutter, mitigating, said that Singh had no previous convictions in India or the UK. She said: “He came here legally to study computer science in central London but was unable to finish the course due to running out of funds. He did obtain 10 hours of work, which was permitted under the terms of his visa, but his lack of English made it very difficult.
“Friends told him there was a factory in Leicester offering work and that was when he purchased the false passport to obtain the job.
“He did not return to India because there was an issue between his family and another, whereby the other family had threatened violence against him personally and he avoided going back for that reason.
“Some of the money he earned was going back to his family in India. Although that doesn’t justify his actions, he felt he had no other option.
“He’s aware that deportation may take place upon his release from custody.”
