A GRAYS man has been jailed after admitting a string of ID fraud and immigration offences.

Nigerian national Adesuwa Ezemewenghian, 46, was sentenced to 20 months in prison when he appeared at Southend Crown Court today.

He had pleaded guilty to a variety of fraud offences, including possessing another person’s ID document, and failure to comply with conditions of his immigration bail at an earlier hearing.

Ezemewenghian, an illegal entrant to the UK, had assumed the identity of a British man David Ogedegbe in order to illegally obtain work as a security guard and access NHS services and benefits.

He used a fraudulently obtained Nigerian passport containing Mr Ogedegbe’s details and a copy of Mr Ogedegbe’s genuine birth certificate to commit his offences.

His crimes were uncovered when he was subjected to a CRB check as part of his work as a security guard and could not provide sufficient documentation to prove his identity.

Ezemewenghian was arrested by officers from the Home Office’s Criminal Investigations Team at his home address in Lewes Close on 12 June.

Fayza Ali, from the Home Office’s Criminal Investigations Team, said: “Ezemewenghian not only worked illegally, taking employment away from legitimate jobseekers, he also unlawfully accessed the UK’s health care and benefits services, cheating the tax payer.

"His abuse of the system was shameless.”

Ezemewenghian will be automatically considered for deportation at the end of his sentence.

The Criminal Investigations Team consists of warranted Home Office Immigration Enforcement officers working alongside seconded police officers to investigate organised immigration crime.

Anyone who has information on suspected immigration offenders can visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/contact/report-crime/