Barking vicar to face court over alleged fake weddings

A Barking vicar suspected of conducting around 200 sham marriages has been charged with immigration offences.

Rev Elwon John, then 43, was arrested at his home in Kennedy Road, Barking, on suspicion of conspiracy to facilitate breaches of immigration law, on August 3 last year.

The associate minister at All Saints Church, Hampton Road, Forest Gate, was taken into custody along with Rev Brian Shipsides, 54, a minister at St Edmunds Church, Katherine Road, Forest Gate.

They will appear at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on March 25.