THE priest at the centre of a sham wedding sting says the “vast majority” that take place in his church are pre-arranged fakes.

Father Tim Codling, who has been the priest at St John the Baptist Church in Tilbury for the last 13 years, said he has seen an increase in the number of bogus nuptials over the last three years.

Father Codling said he has recently had to stop several weddings that appeared to be fake as the bride and groom barely spoke English and appeared to have never met before.

He said: “I think the vast majority of weddings we have at the church appear to be sham marriages.

“But the way the legislation is means if someone has been given a wedding licence I have to marry them.

“Priests in the Church of England act as both the registrar at the wedding as well as the priest, so we have a legal obligation to marry these people.

“We can only stop weddings if we have reasonable grounds to suspect they aren’t genuine.”

Foreign nationals wanting to marry in the Church of England have to visit the registrar’s office in Chelmsford – the faith’s diocese for Essex – where they are given a licence to marry once they have filled in the relevant forms, provided the right documentation and had them checked.

But marriage fraudsters often use fake passports or give false addresses for the bride or groom, making it a nightmare for the church to properly police.

Marriage fraudsters are targeting Thurrock, according to Father Codling.

He said con artists setting up fake weddings for cash so immigrants get the right to stay in the country, are flooding churches in Thurrock.

He said Nigerian nationals are routinely picking churches across Thurrock to get married.

The would-be couples claim to live in the borough and believe they can get away with it as Thurrock has a growing Nigerian population who genuinely live there and have a legitimate right to marry in the town’s churches.

Father Codling explained: “The criminal element has cottoned on to the fact the demographic of Thurrock is changing.

“Whereas ten to 15 years ago it was not that common to see black people in Thurrock, it is far more common now as we have a much more mobile society.

“I also think the criminals see Thurrock as as soft touch.

“There are good rail links to Thurrock from London, so these people can just get on a train and go to a church in Thurrock and sit in the congregation and just give a fake address.”