An immigration court may now order him to be deported

Yaw Okyere, 32, outside Hull Crown Court - a judge gave him a six-month suspended sentence and ordered him to do 150 hours unpaid work

A failed asylum seeker who got a woman pregnant while in the UK spent 10 years evading checks by impersonating his brother.

Ghanaian national Yaw Okyere, 32, got a six-month visitor's visa to see his brother who was lawfully studying at university in August 2005. And he decided he liked Hull so much he never went back home.

Okyere got his hands on a fake passport in his brother Ben's name and fake UK residents' permit so he could work illegally.

He started a job earning £20,000 a year as a labourer and had a daughter with his partner.

He was only caught out when the UK Border Agency were given a tip off Ben Okyere was not who he said he was.

After initially being exposed he made an application for asylum in June 2014, but that was refused as an immigration court knew he had false papers.

He has since lodged an appeal against his deportation and made a second application under the European Human Rights Act to stay with his UK daughter and partner.

Okyere of Woodgate Road, Hull, appeared at Hull Crown court for sentence after pleading guilty to two charges of possession of a false passport and UK resident's permit.

Principal Crown advocate Phillip Evans said: 'The defendant applied in July 2005 to visit his brother between August 2005 and February 2006.

'In a nutshell while the defendant was in the UK he obtained false documents and has been in the country ever since working under these false document. He obtained a false Ghanaian passport and a UK residence permit.

'After initial employment elsewhere both these documents were shown to Lab Systems Furniture where he worked from October 2009 to March 2015 earning more than £101,000.'

Okyere destroyed the original documents, but copies of the forgeries were spotted from photocopies his employer had kept.

Mr Evans told the court people knew his real name was not Ben, but assumed it was his nickname.

'The Crown says it was more sinister than that - he used his brother name to get employment,' said Mr Evans.

'He told the authorities that his brother gave him some assistance in getting those false documents, although his brother is not facing any charges.'

Defence barrister Richard Thompson urged the judge not to jail him as he had always worked in the UK, not drawn benefits and had not used the documents to open a bank account.

He gave the judge five references including one from a director at Lab Systems Furniture which spoke of his reliability and work ethic.

Judge Simon Jack told Okyere the Court of Appeal recommended a sentence of six months for offences of his kind unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Judge Jack said: 'I have seen references handed in that are quite exceptional and rare to see. Three are from people who are not your friends including the director of Lab Systems Furniture.

'It is very much to your credit you support yourself and did not claim benefits. For those reasons I take the view these are exceptional circumstance.'

He ordered he should be given a six-month suspended prison sentence and 150 hours of unpaid work.

The judge said he was unable to assist Okyere on his more pressing legal problem of deportation as that would be a decision for an immigration court.