A SOUTHAMPTON woman, who was within seconds of marrying a stranger in a sham marriage, has today started a 16 month prison term.

Eva Nowak was about to exchange vows when immigration officers burst in on the register office ceremony and arrested the pair.

A judge heard her fake husband Babar Khan couldn’t even spell her name correctly and they had appeared to be disinterested over the details of their supposed big day.

When her home in Wilton Avenue, Shirley, was searched, the officers could find no trace of Khan having been there.

Nowak, 25, pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to breach immigration laws and two of breaching marriage laws. She had been promised £250 to go through with the fraud.

The city crown court heard how the Polish National had initially claimed she had met Khan, pictured below, at a wedding three years earlier and they became friends.

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She was upset when she learnt his visa was about to expire and accepted his marriage proposal.

“I did not do this for money but to help,” she insisted. “I accept I knowingly made false statements in order to get married. I thought Babar was my friend and I really liked him. I know my actions were wrong and I shouldn’t have listened to Babar.”

However, when the basis of plea was originally put in front of the court, the prosecution refused to accept it.

Yesterday prosecutor Dawn Hyland read out a second statement submitted by Nowak who confessed she had not met Khan until they met at the register office.

She described how she was approached by a Polish woman and promised money.

“Initially I agreed but as the wedding day drew close, I started to have doubts. The day before the wedding, she said that if I stitched her by not going through with it, she would kill me. I was scared and so attended the ceremony. At no point was I paid.”

Guy Draper, defending, said Nowak had been coersed into going through the wedding.

“She was vulnerable, a young woman with little support, and it was that vulnerability that was exploited. She was preyed on by those who realised she was an easy touch. She is thoroughly remorseful.”

Passing sentence, Judge Nicholas Rowland told Nowak she knew what she was doing. “Offences of this seriousness designed to undermine immigration laws warrant an immediate custodial sentence.”

The court heard Khan, who lived in Wembley, had pleaded guilty to the same charges last years and having served his 20 month sentence, had been deported to Pakistan.