A “SHAM” bride expected a payment of around £2,000 which she planned to use for a deposit on a flat, a court heard.

Karolina Kosche told immigration staff that Justyna Sobieraj, had promised to give her money if she married Gurpreet Singh in a sham ceremony in Winchester in February 2014.

Southampton Crown Court heard that Kosche alleges she was coerced into marrying Mr Singh by Sobieraj – who is at the centre of the sham marriage investigation which saw Polish nationals marry non-EU individuals to obtain visas for them.

During the hearing, tapes from Kosche’s Home Office interview, after she wed Singh, were played in which she admitted the marriage was a sham.

The jury heard that when summoned Kosche failed to tell officers the truth about her marriage to Mr Singh.

She claimed that she met Singh during a night out at club Oceana, before they began dating.

Kosche also said that she worked for agency Pro-Force as a team leader at a tomato factory in Southampton docks.

However, when confronted about paperwork from her “employer”, she confessed the ceremony was a marriage of convenience.

The court heard Pro-Force had never employed Kosche.

After she admitted the wedding was a sham, Kosche filled in a marriage-of-convenience form to detail reasons why the proceedings were fake.

On the form, submitted to the court by prosecutor Tom Wilkins, Kosche wrote that she stood to financially gain from the wedding by around £2,000.

Police then invited Kosche into Southampton Central Police Station to talk about the incident.

She admitted to officers that she had only met Mr Singh a couple of times before the ceremony and that she was “scared” to not marry him.

In an interview with police, Kosche told immigration officers that Sobieraj said she would get around £2,000 for a deposit on a flat.

She said: “She threatened me as well. She knew I had nowhere to go. She said she will find me if I back out as she will be in trouble too.”

Mr Singh, who originally moved to the UK in 2009 as a student, has since been deported to India.

Kosche is on trial with co-defendant Jolanta Gardynik.

Gardynik tried to marry Indian-born Rajpal Singh, but claims the ceremony was for love.

Both pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to facilitate the breach of UK immigration law by a non-EU resident.