Police hunt illegal immigrants after civil servants helped them get passports

Jobcentre employee Charles Myton, 28, of Tooting, was facing jail today for signing seven fraudulent passport applications in a four-month period in 2003.

He was being sentenced at Croydon Crown Court after being found guilty of seven counts of forgery.

Another former Jobcentre employee was sentenced to 26 months imprisonment for similar, but unconnected, offences in August.

Valentina Costley, 43, of Deptford, charged people up to £3,000 to falsely complete passport applications on their behalf.

Detectives still want to trace nine suspects whose images were found on passports obtained using Costley's countersignature.

The pair were caught in an 18-month investigation by a Metropolitan Police squad codenamed Operation Kildare.

The inquiry, which also involved two other UK forces and immigration and passport officials, extended to the US, Jamaica and Canada.

Among those issued with a passport on the strength of Costley's signature was a British national who used his new ID document in a false name to travel to the US, where he acted as a getaway driver for a gang involved in a double murder robbery case.

He was later jailed for 10 years for his role in the crime in New York.

In both cases most recipients of the fraudulent passports were Jamaicans who wanted to enter the UK or US illegally.

Police have details of the names on the passports but say they belong to innocent victims of identity theft.

Others whose passport applications were signed by Costley included a drug dealer and someone with a violent criminal record.

Police say Myton, who worked in Colliers Wood, committed his first offence in 2003 when he countersigned the passport application of a man whom he said had been a friend for three years.

The same year he countersigned a passport in the name of "Mr Walters" for Jamaican national Philbert Williams.

Williams was stopped in possession of the passport in 2004 at border control at New York's JFK airport and deported to Jamaica.

He has since disappeared.

Most of the frauds were first-time passport applications submitted before the requirement for face-to-face interviews was introduced this year.

Det Insp Nick Downing of Operation Maxim which tackles immigration crime, said: "We do not know who these people are but they are travelling around the country with genuine British passports.

"They are illegal immigrants who are possibly involved in crime and using the passports to hide their criminality.

"Our message to anyone who is considering countersigning passport applicants' photos: if you don't know them, don't sign.

"There is significant criminal harm that can be facilitated by holding a false passport - to individuals, communities and organisations - and anyone asked to countersign an application should be absolutely sure of that person's identity before doing so."

Anyone with information on the identity or whereabouts of the passport holders should call contact Operation Maxim on 020 8785 8256 or email Operationmaxim@met.pnn.police.uk