Nigerian security guard who helped Nigerian woman through Stansted Airport illegally has his appeal dismissed

A security guard jailed for aiding a woman's bid to slip through overseas border controls deserved his "stern" sentence, a top judge ruled on June 17.

According to Essex Chronicle, 47-year-old Dele Uyi Akonedo, was jailed for two and a half years at Chelmstead Crown Court in June last year after he was convicted of assisting unlawful immigration to an EU state.

Akonedo, was a man of exemplary character, London's Appeal Court, before he got sucked into the scam. He and accomplices plotted to put a Nigerian woman on a plane from Stansted Airport to the Slovakian Republic, using false documents

Akonedo booked an air ticket for the woman and also drove her to the airport, but she never managed to get through immigration once she arrived in Bratislava, Mr Justice Jay told the court.

Akonedo was described in court as a hard-working family man and the father of four children. His case reached the Appeal Court as he challenged his sentence, which his lawyers claimed was far too harsh.

Mr Justice Jay, sitting with Lord Justice Davis and Judge Neil Ford QC, said Akonedo posed a difficult sentencing exercise. The immigration scam was not sophisticated, he said, terming it a "somewhat cack-handed offence".

But despite Akonedo's compelling personal history the judge refused to reduce his punishment.

"This sentence was certainly stern and at the top of the range," he told the court. "But this was a planned offence. Others were involved and deterrent sentences continue to be called for in these cases. The appeal is dismissed

Source: Essex Chronicle