A KEY member of a sophisticated international immigration scam that is thought to be responsible for smuggling 75 people into the area was jailed for six years on Wednesday.

Guram Mgeladze, 41, and two illegal immigrants, charged up to £3,000 to give immigrants new identities and bogus places on courses at a language school in Bournemouth.

Prosecutor Ray Tully told Bournemouth Crown Court that once the immigrants were in the UK, the former hotel chef helped them to gain letters of acceptance from a language school they had duped into offering them a place. Using his local contacts he then helped them secure casual employment in the hotel trade.

Mgeladze, of Castle Road, Bournemouth, was found guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court in July of conspiring to arrange or facilitate entry to the UK by an illegal immigrant and conspiring to obtain leave to remain in the UK by deception. The jury had heard the case involved Westbourne English Language School, which has now changed hands and names, and Bournemouth International Language School, which had no idea its logo was being used for forged documents.

The man described as the mastermind behind the international criminal organisation was Igor Kopcov who was jailed for five years in May 2003 for his substantial part in the organisation.

Another man, Alyaksandr Havarukhin, was sentenced to 17 months.

The predominant route the organisation used to bring the bogus students in the UK was through Poole ferry port.

While passing sentence yesterday Judge John Harrow said: "Kopcov was one of the brains of this operation. It was a sophisticated enterprise involving a number of illegal immigrants. You were not in from the beginning but when you joined you were extensively involved with others, making good use of your computer skills and local knowledge. It was an important role.

"This behaviour is so serious that a lengthy prison sentence is inevitable."

The married father-of-four, a Georgian national, had entered the UK in 1996 and had always been a legal immigrant. Judge John Harrow did not recommend that Mgeladze be deported after serving at least two thirds of his sentence.

Charles Gabb, mitigating, said there was "not a shred of evidence" that Mgeladze had made any money from the scam.

First published: Sept 16

See today's Echo for the background to the case.