Illegal immigrant stole Briton's passport and masqueraded as her for SEVEN years to get a job, home and husband

qamar Yasmeen, 41, was convicted after working - and even getting married - using the identity of Henna Ali from 2002 to 2009.

Yasmeen, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was also able to get a bank account, driving licence and accommodation after applying for the document by using a childhood passport the victim had lost in 1992.

Yasmeen also managed to obtain the 35-year-old's birth certificate and details about her late father so she could marry in her native Pakistan and bring her new husband to the UK.

She was even CRB checked and got a job working with vulnerable adults using Ms Ali's National Insurance number.
The deceit could have continued for much longer had Ms Ali not found out about the fraud when she tried to get a new passport to go on holiday.

However, she was told by officials she already had another passport - one was issued to a woman of the same name and date of birth, but with a different photograph and address.

'I booked in for the express service but they told me there was a problem, and that they had a file in my name and asked where my other passport was,' she said.

Seven-year saga: Henna Ali with her passport after Yasmeen was jailed for 16 months
'He said to me I had another passport but I was adamant I've only got one.'

The scam began after Ms Ali moved house in 1999 and realised she had lost her childhood passport.

She was re-issued with a new one, counter-signed by her primary school headteacher, which she used for the next ten years.

But in 2002, the lost document fell into the hands of Yasmeen, who took it to the passport office in Liverpool to apply for a new one, using her own photograph, but with Ms Ali's name and details.

She then assumed Ms Ali's identity and obtained a copy birth certificate from a public records office to create a new life for herself.

She also acquired a provisional driving licence and a Pakistani National Identity card using a copy of Ms Ali's birth certificate.

A joint police investigation was launched with the Borders Agency and the Identity and Passport Service, and Yasmeen was traced.

When police searched her property, they found a hoard of documents in Ms Ali's name.
Ms Ali said: 'It makes me sick every time I think about what she has done.

'My good name is tarnished because people don't know that I have got an imposter.
'She could have been doing anything under my name.'

Ms Ali added: 'The stress has made me really ill.

'I'm very lucky I've had the support of my family through it otherwise I don't know what I would have done.'

Yasmeen will be deported upon her release from jail.