A Nigerian groom picked Celine Dion's song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face "to walk down the aisle for a sham marriage to a woman he had met only once before.
Leeds University masters student Jayeola Abiola, 29, first saw Portuguese 'bride' Vania Pinheiro-Fernandes, 29, at the dress rehearsal and struggled to pronounce her name.But clearly confident he would get away with the con, he planned for the Canadian singer's love song to be blastedout in Hull's Guildhall to cement their bogus life together.
However, UK Border Agency officers had been tipped off and he was arrested before he even made it into the grand 19th century building.
Abiola, 29, of Grafton Street, Hull, and Pinheiro-Fernandes, of Park Hotel, Manchester, pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to conspiracy to breach immigration law by arranging a marriage so Abiola could remain in the UK.
Fixer Abiola Kumoye, 34, of Shillingford Road, Manchester, wept in court as he also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to breach immigration law and acquiring criminal property of £2,650, the first part of the fee for the sham marriage.
The court heard how the UK Border Agency had been called by the Hull Registrar who said the couple seemed to barely know each other when they were interviewed at the rehearsal. One investigator said: 'You can't make it up. They really did pick "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" to be played in the ceremony. 'It shows, even if they never plan to spend their lives together, they have a sense of humour.
'The marriage was to cost £5,000. Around £2,500 was paid in advance, with the rest to be paid on completion.
