Coronation Street’s bogus bride storyline has highlighted the problem with sham marriages in hotspot towns like Accrington, border agency bosses say.
Nine people have so far been locked up for a total of almost 13 years in connection with sham marriages at two Accrington churches, St Peter’s and St Andrew’s.
On Monday television viewers tuned in to see Xin Chiang plot a bogus wedding to get a visa to stay in the country during an episode of Coronation Street.
Bosses from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) advised the popular soap how to make the story realistic.
Regional director Eddy Montgomery told the Observer: "We are pleased to see the profile of our work raised and to see this sort of storyline being featured in the media.
"We have been really happy to work closely with Granada on this, as we have seen this cynical crime in action in the region."
Tina McIntyre, played by Michelle Keegan, persuades her own boyfriend Graeme Proctor (Craig Gazey) to tie the knot with Xin and the couple stage a mock public break-up in the Rovers Return.
Tina dreams up the plan after finding out that bad boy David Platt was himself offering to marry her pal in exchange for £2,000. A spokeswoman for UKBA said: "Sham marriages have occurred nationwide and our proactive approach to tackling this problem has discovered several places that have been targeted.
"We have worked closely with the producers of Coronation Street while this plotline has been developed."
Hyndburn MP Graham Jones has previously praised the police’s efforts in bringing those involved in Accrington sham marriages to justice.
In November last year vicars were told not to handle weddings involving Africans and Eastern Europeans after a clergy leader revealed that 40 bogus marriages were being investigated in Accrington.
The Archdeacon of Blackburn, The Venerable John Hawley, called on church leaders to be vigilant and issued clergy in Accrington with a checklist to deal with any potentially suspicious marriages.
The UKBA also confirmed that 66 people have been arrested in the last 12 months for their involvement in organising bogus weddings in the north west.
Mr Montgomery added: "We have first hand evidence of people coming to the region with little or no money, who are then being asked to pay sometimes as much as £5,000 for a sham marriage.
"A lot of the time, they are not just asked to pay that back financially, but by engaging in other illegal activities. They are the victims of exploitation, who are desperate to stay in the country and have to resort to illegal means."
Anyone who has information about suspicious marriages or other immigration crime can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime .
