Anglican Priest Arrested On 'Sham Marriage' Charges

By Al Webb
Religion News Service

LONDON (RNS) A Church of England vicar has been arrested in Britain's second major police investigation in as many years into bogus marriages staged to help immigrants win residents' visas.

The church immediately suspended the Rev. Canon Patrick Magumba amid claims he was involved in scores of sham weddings at three churches in northeast England.

Last year in a similar case, a vicar was sent to jail for conducting some 360 fake weddings to help foreigners evade immigration regulations.

The 58-year-old Magumba, who came to Britain from Uganda, is accused of failing to read out the banns that are designed as part of a safety net to make sure a marriage is legitimate.

The banns involve reading the names and addresses of those getting married during three separate Sunday services and are necessary in this country to acquire a marriage certificate.

With that document, the government's Home Office said, immigrants who otherwise would have no legal right to stay in Britain could remain in the country as the "husband" or "wife" of a bogus spouse.

Magumba has been released on bail, and the Church of England said in a statement his "license to operate as a minister of religion" had been suspended while the police investigation continued.

Comments

[CognitoErgoSum]

01:30 PM on 03/18/2011

I saw the picture at the top of the article and it broke my heart. Fondant icing is so expensive and time consuming to make to waste it like that...

[Hysterian68]

12:34 AM on 03/18/2011

Now, Canon Magumba will have to shift to marrying gays where no banns are required.

[Grada3784]

09:53 PM on 03/17/2011

Let's all hear it for the sanctity of marriage and other staples of stand up comedians..

[ninetailedfox]

09:12 AM on 03/17/2011

The first rule of making excuses for religion: always claim the religion and "fundament­­a­lism/li­t­er­alism­" are somehow separate. Never offer any evidence of course, just rely on lack of critical thinking. After all if you can frame the fundamenta­­ls of a religion as not part of it, then you will believe most anything.

[Indigo1941]

07:11 AM on 03/17/2011

What a foolish priest!
How quickly he was punished by church and state.
If he'd been a pederast,
he wouldn't have all these legal problems.
Isn't that a curious dish to set before the king?

[beh3433]

06:21 PM on 03/17/2011

You appear to be unaware of the basic differences between the Angilican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

[Indigo1941]

06:54 PM on 03/17/2011

There are no pederasts in the C of E? I don't believe you.

[gevan]

05:13 AM on 03/17/2011

So the main mistake of those getting married was in doing it in the Church of England? I'm guessing that other religions might have different rules.

[TXfemmom]

09:44 PM on 03/17/2011

The Anglican Church is the "official" church of England, and as such is subject to a set of rules which specifically pertain to it.  The people could have had a Civil Marriage, but they were well aware of the fact that the Civil Marriages are not viewed with the same thought of sincerity for immigration purposes.

[TiredInPDX]

11:50 PM on 03/16/2011

At least there isn't children involved. Thank you Mr. Priest.

[jokamachi]

12:05 AM on 03/17/2011

You turned an Anglican thread into a Catholic hate thread. Well done, bigot.

[stuoverit]

11:22 AM on 03/17/2011

bigot: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

When the RCC protected pedophiles from the top down, everyone of them (including anyone who tithed) became complicit in the act. There is nothing bigoted about calling a spade a spade. Had any other hierarchical organization protected pedophilia on the scale that the RCC did, they would have been struck down in a heart-beat. But because they wear red robes and have a palace that would make Jesus cry, they get to just go on with the normal routine.

[gregory57]

04:27 PM on 03/17/2011

Kind of like his Holiness is trying to turn the Anglican Church into a Catholic chip shop?