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Border police stormed the “bogus” wedding of two Harrods workers only to be left embarrassed when they realised it was real.

Immigration officers ruined Massimo Ciabattini and Miao Guo’s big day when they burst in and halted the nuptials at Camden Town Hall.

The 31-year-old Italian groom, 34-year-old Chinese bride and their two bridesmaids were led away into separate rooms and grilled for half an hour before police realised it was not a sham marriage to obtain a visa.

The couple, who met while working at the Knightsbridge store, were subsequently allowed back into the room and allowed to get married.

The fiasco happened last Thursday in front of a reporter from a local paper who was invited by police to see raid on a “bogus marriage.” But when they realised they had made a mistake, the journalist was quickly ushered away and not prevented from taking photographs.

Home Office officials suspicions were raised because the pair had trouble spelling each other’s surnames when they registered to marry and the bride’s visa was due to expire in six weeks. The only guests at the wedding were the bridesmaids.

The wedding had been “red flagged” by Camden Council as a possible sham marriage who called in the Home Office to investigate.

Officials waited until the wedding was underway to avoid the bride and groom fleeing.

However, the couple’s answers to questions about their relationship and life had matched up perfectly - and they had genuine bookings afterwards at a restaurant with friends and a hotel room for the night.

One official admitted afterwards: “It is either the best sham wedding I have ever seen or it is real.”

Guy Taylor, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, condemned the mistake, saying: “This is a life event where people’s expectations, money and energy is being poured into this one day and the Home Office don’t seem to care about ruining it by not making better background checks. Why didn’t they interview them beforehand?”

A Home Office spokesman said: “Where suspicions are raised that a marriage may not be genuine we will investigate. On this occasion no action was taken.”

A spokesman from Camden Council said: “We are legally obliged to report any suspected sham marriages or civil partnerships to the Home Office, based on the criteria outlined in the Immigration and Asylum Act of 1999. It is then for the Home Office to decide how to progress and whether to take action.”