A sham marriage fixer who lent his expertise to an illegal immigration conspiracy has failed in an appeal against the length of his sentence.
Salim Mullan, of Tuskar Road, Thurnby Lodge, Leicester, was jailed for two years and eight months at Leeds Crown Court in July, after admitting a plot to facilitate a breach of immigration rules.
At the Court of Appeal in London yesterday, he was told by Lord Justice Rix, Mr Justice Mackay and Mrs Justice Sharp that the term was justified.
The court heard Mullan (58) had served a four-year sentence, imposed in 2005, for organising a large number of sham marriages.
He was back in trouble after a Huddersfield registrar became suspicious about a planned marriage between a British woman and a Pakistani man.
On the day the marriage was planned, in April last year, the man and woman who were planning to wed, as well as another conspirator, were arrested.
Mullan was arrested four months later. He admitted providing advice to the plotters and booking a taxi for them to get to the register office.
He said he had been approached for help, that he was not the instigator or organiser of the plot and that he "bitterly regretted" getting involved.
Sentencing him in July, the crown court judge said the conspiracy involved a considerable degree of planning and Mullan's previous conviction was a significant aggravating feature.
His lawyers yesterday argued his role was peripheral and he had made little or no financial gain.
Rejecting his appeal, Mrs Justice Sharp said: "In our view, the judge was right to regard the appellant's previous conviction as a significantly aggravating feature.
"We don't consider it's correct to describe the appellant's role as peripheral."
