A pregnant Czech bride who was jailed for her part in an Accrington sham marriage has been freed – allowing her to give birth at home.
Mum-of-one Monika Slepcikova, 36, was seven months pregnant when she was jailed for eight months in September after pleading guilty to assisting unlawful immigration at Burnley Crown Court.
But Slepcikova walked free when three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London suspended her sentence.
Struggling with a newborn baby, she accepted payments totalling £2,000 to marry Nigerian man, Unchenna Peter Ezimorah, at St Peter’s Church on Cartmel Avenue in Accrington.
Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting with Mr Justice Sweeney and Mrs Justice Slade, told how Slepcikova was short of cash when she committed the offence in June 2009.
She had been unable to resist the opportunity of solving her financial problems when a friend suggested that she take part in a sham marriage for money.
She supplied her passport and bank paperwork as part of the scam, which was aimed at allowing Ezimorah to remain in the United Kingdom when he was not entitled to.
He was eventually jailed for 21 months for his part in the scam.
Slepcikova’s lawyers argued that the eight-month sentence was too tough and should be reduced to allow her to go free before the expected November delivery date of her second child.
Slepcikova was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for a year.
