Legal News

An illegal immigrant man near Penrith has been jailed for 12 months for using a forged identity card to get a job.

Mykola Tremtyachyy, 29, who is a Ukrainian, used the false Lithuanian card when he went for an interview at Riverside Recruitment, the Carlisle-based employment agency.

At Carlisle Crown Court the offender from Skirsgill Lane, Eamont Bridge, pleaded guilty to possessing the forged Lithuanian identity document with improper intention.
He also admitted fraudulently using that card by presenting it to Riverside Recruitment as proof of his identity.
After gaining a job by using the fake card Tremtyachyy earned around £5,000 before officers from the UK Border Agency examined the identity card he had used and discovered it was a fake.

Later it emerged that he had been living in Britain illegally after he overstayed for over seven years after his initial one year work permit had expired.
Prosecutor Dick Binstead told the court that, though Tremtyachyy had come to this country quite legally, he had made no attempt to “regularise his stay” once it expired.
Criminal lawyer mitigation, aid Tremtyachyy was a hard-working man who had settled down with a partner and stepdaughter in Cumbria.
He added that his client had not come into the country to live off it but he had worked very hard during his stay in the United Kingdom.
He was earnestly hopeful that he will not be deported because he wishes to remain in this country to be with his partner and her daughter.
The lawyer said that Mykola had no family in Eastern Europe. He presented to the court a character reference from Mr David Simpson, his former neighbour and landlord when he was living in William Street, Penrith, who described how helpful he had been by doing repairs and maintenance work on their houses.
Passing sentence, Judge Paul Batty QC said legal guidelines showed there could be no alternative to an immediate prison sentence.
The borders of each country have to be respected and anyone who uses false documents, whether by way of passports or identity cards would inevitably receive a custodial sentence, he said.