Ana Rita Teixeira Ferras, 26, was jailed after she set up sham weddings between women from the EU and men from Africa so they could stay in the UK

A woman who set up sham weddings between European women and African migrants so they could stay in Britain has been jailed.

Ana Rita Teixeira Ferras, 26, set up at least three fake marriage in 2012 between women from the EU and men from west Africa.

She even took part in a scam herself and married a man in 2007 and helped produce false payslips to be used by those who had had sham marriages when they made applications to the Home Office to stay in the country.

Ferras even fled back to her home country of Portugal when police caught up with her at her home in Highbrook, Northamptonshire, and was only brought back to the UK after a European Arrest Warrant was issued.

During a hearing at at Northampton Crown Court Ferras admitted four counts of facilitating a breach of immigration law. She was jailed for four years and three months.

Several accomplices in the ring have previously been convicted for their part of the scheme as part of a Home Office investigation called Operation Marco.

Jessica Nunes, 21, from Corby, Northamptonshire, was handed a 12 month suspended sentence in April 2013.

Nunes, a student, married a man called Oluwasegun Omoniyi, also a student in another fake wedding.

He too was jailed for 44 weeks for his part in the plot after pleading guilty to attempting to obtain leave to remain in the UK by deception.

Samantha McDonald, 26, from Corby, was handed a 14 month suspended sentence in November 2013 after pleading guilty to one count of facilitating a breach of immigration law.

Speaking after Ferras's conviction, Andy Radcliffe, Home Office Criminal Investigations Officer, said: 'Ferris thought she could abuse and manipulate the immigration system to her own criminal ends.

'She was wrong and is now behind bars.

'The use of the European Arrest Warrant was vital to being able to return Ferris to the UK and bring this investigation to a successful conclusion.

Ferras was jailed for four years and three months after at a hearing at Northampton Crown Court she pleaded guilty to four charges of facilitating a breach of immigration law for organising sham marriages

'Thanks to this, and the dedication and meticulous hard work of the Home Office Criminal Investigation team she has now been brought to justice.'

Last month ringleaders of a different sham marriage gang which arranged fake weddings for foreign men who wanted to gain British citizenship were jailed. Ibrahim Mahter, 29, and Abdulgani Makrani, 66, organised at least seven fake marriages for men from Pakistan and India, offering women up to £8,000 to take a foreign husband.