A ZIMBABWEAN man living in Huddersfield has been jailed for 12 months for immigration offences.

He was convicted for offences under the Identity Card Act. The sentence was handed down at Leeds Crown Court to Bekuthando Ngwenya, 33.

The court was told Ngwenya gained employment with a Huddersfield employment agency using a forged identity passport and was arrested during a Border and Immigration Agency visit to his home.

In an unrelated case an Indian man of no fixed address, Sonu Kumar, 39, was sentenced at the same court to nine months’ imprisonment for possessing a false identity document with intent to use. He was arrested in September when he was found working illegally on a building site.

The judge recommended deportation at the end of Kumar’s sentence.

Border and Immigration Agency Regional Director for the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, Chris Hudson said: “Foreign nationals must obey the laws of this country in the same way as everybody else.

“Anyone breaking the law, irrespective of whether they are a British citizen or a foreign national, can expect prosecution and, where appropriate, a custodial sentence.”