Man ‘tried to smuggle wife into UK in suitcase’
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A MAN was caught trying to smuggle his wife into Britain - in his suitcase.
Lithuanian Bogden Croitor, 30, was given permission to live in the UK but his Moldovian-born wife was twice refused the right to come here.
Customs officials did a routine stop and search on his car as he came through Dover last October and found his wife hiding in the bag.
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Croitor said he had been to Calais to spend the weekend with his wife and claimed she suggested hiding in the suitcase.
He was given a 14-month jail sentence suspended for two years at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday.
Judge Adele Williams said: “You could have absolutely no complaint if I had sent you to prison straight away because those who commit this offence normally always go to jail immediately.
“But I take the view that the way you committed this offence does have extraordinary mitigating circumstances attached to it.”
Natasha Spreadborough, defending, said Croitor’s wife had made numerous applications for a visa but had been refused each time.
Croiter, of Stanmore, London, was also given 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay £400 costs.
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