A Nigerian mum, Adeyinka Gbemisola, has escaped a jail term after she was found to have obtained a fake UK resident’s card.
Gbemisola, 45, used fake ID to get a minimum-wage job so she could feed her children.
She entered the UK with a visitor visa which allowed her to stay until 2023 but prevented her from obtaining employment.
According to the judge at the court where she was tried, her two young children could ‘suffer’ if she went to prison.
Gbemisola was handed her a six month suspended sentence.
But after losing her job she now faces eviction as she has not managed to pay her rent.
Sentencing Judge Hilary Manley told Gbemisola: ‘The courts must take the use of false identity documents seriously because people that use them maliciously strike at the heart of our society.
‘I accept you did this in order to earn money for your children but this must be taken seriously because those documents could have been used by someone with more sinister intentions to obtain work with vulnerable people and put them at risk.’
However, she admitted that Gbemisola was a ‘devoted mother’ who has done what she could to provide for her children.
She added: ‘It is clear you are remorseful. You committed these offences not to gain a lavish lifestyle for yourself – but to feed your children.
‘I take the view that you are clearly remorseful, have a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, are a full-time carer for your children and they would suffer greatly if you were to go to prison today.’
