BOGUS BRIDES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 147, 24 June 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

BOGUS BRIDES.

IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. WOMEN FROM ABROAD. SECRET ORGANISATION REVEALED A secret organisation, which, it was stated, arranges marriages between alien women and Englishmen in Britain for improper purposes at £100 each was mentioned at London Sessions. Germain Larssoneur, aged 22, a dressmaker of French nationality, was convicted of being found within the United Kingdom without permission of the Secretary of State. It was stated that Larssoneur was brought to England by a relative, and that after her arrival trouble arose in connection with her proposed marriage to an Englishman. She was ordered to leave the United Kingdom, and went to the Irish Free State. There she attempted to marry, but a priest refused to perform the ceremony, and she was escorted to Holyhead by Irish Free State officials. When she arrived in England she was met by Scotland Yard detectives. Larssoneur was also charged with failing to comply with the conditions impoeefl by the Home Secretary on the entry of aliens. Defence Plea. Mr. Marston Garsia, for the defence, suggested that she had complied with the order to leave the United Kingdom by going to Ireland. The chairman decided that there was no evidence to go to the jury on this count. Detective-Sergeant Minter, of Scotland Yard said that a man to whom Larssoneur had referred used a West London estate agent's business to cloak his real activities. "For many years," said Sergeant Minter, "he has been the London agent of undesirable French women and their associates, and has been successful in arranging a number of marriages of convenience, for each of which he has received a round figure of about £100.

"The Home Office views these marriages with grave apprehension, as up to the present we have been unable to obtain sufficient evidence on which to proceed against the organisers of this traffic. "Owing to recent police activities the man referred to by Larssoneur has found it increasingly difficult to arrange those marriages, and there is every reason for believing that had this intended marriage taken place in Ireland he would have taken the parties in future marriages to that country for the ceremony. "In view of the difficulties encountered in the present case I am given to understand that he now intends to make the Channel Islands the venue for these marriages." Home Office Action. Mr. J. F. Eastwood, prosecuting, said that reciprocal arrangements had been made by the Home Office and the Irish Free State authorities in order to prevent these marriages of convenience. Sir Percival Clarke, the chairman, directed that Larssoneur should be detained in custody for three days, while the Home Office was communicated with regarding her deportation. Mr. Garsia said that an appeal would be lodged against the chairman's decision that this was a case to go to the jury on the second charge.