A Lincolnshire couple, who both first entered the UK as illegal immigrants, have been handed prison sentences after building a property empire and a successful gangmaster business using a stolen ID.

In a landmark conviction, described by the judge as ‘the first of its type in the UK’, Lithuania-born Stasys Skarbalius was handed a two-and-a-half year sentence. His wife, Virinija Skarbaliene, who was complicit throughout, received three years.

They each received concurrent sentences of 18 months for securing and attempting to secure a series of mortgages using a stolen passport under the name Charles Luske. Mrs Skarbaliene was handed a separate concurrent nine month term for perverting the course of justice.

The couple was convicted under a previously unused section of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act (s12(2)(b)), relating to the possession of a document known to be obtained improperly with the intention of leading people to believe they were properly licensed.

It was the first time anyone in the UK has ever been convicted of this crime and the offence was described as the ‘most serious’ indictment of those before the court.

Judge Simon Lawler QC, said: “The sentence is not just a reflection of the public view that serious dishonesty resulting in financial gain should be discouraged but it also sends a clear and unequivocal message that dishonesty in this important area will not be tolerated.”

“The [Gangmasters Licensing Act] relies substantially on honesty in applications. A licence is not a right, it has to be earned and those granted them become responsible for vulnerable people who are often ripe for exploitation.”

He added that there was no evidence of human trafficking or mistreatment of workers and said the sentences would have been more severe had that been the case.

Both defendants were also disqualified from being company directors for a period of seven years.

The court was told that Mr Skarbalius assumed the fake identity by fraudulently using Luske’s Dutch passport. Inside the document the image had been switched and the height measurement altered.

Andy Peet, prosecuting, explained that Mr Skarbalius had set up his company CV Staff Services Ltd using Mr Luske’s name, secured a Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) licence, opened bank accounts, and owned and transferred properties into that name and obtained mortgage advances.

He added that, as Mr Luske, Mr Skarbalius had a profile with HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions, was registered with the NHS and held a UK Driving Licence plus the bank accounts.

Mr Skarbalius operated CV Staff Services from 2006 onwards together with his wife. The court was told that she was complicit throughout, entirely aware that her husband was operating using Mr Luske’s stolen identity.

Mr Peet added that the couple were both ‘willing participants’ in the deception. “They were both on the same level. They were a team.”

The court was also told that Mr Skarbalius took the ID of Mr Luske because he was being investigated in Lithuania, where a European Arrest Warrant had been served and his assets had been frozen. As a result the couple fled to the UK.

They were arrested in March 2013 after a joint investigation by the GLA and the East Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team (EM RART) part of the regional Special Operations Unit.

Earlier this year, Mr Skarbalius admitted nine fraud charges, two of theft, one of obtaining a mortgage by deception and five offences under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act (for possessing a document known to be improperly obtained with the intention of inducing another to believe he was licensed).

Mrs Skarbaliene chose to be tried by jury and was found guilty of five identical gangmaster offences, three frauds, two thefts, and one count of perverting the course of justice.

Mr Peet told the court that CV Staff Services had secured a licence from the GLA to permit the supply of workers to the fresh produce sector - predominantly to harvest vegetable crops in the Doncaster area.

The licence was renewed in Mr Luske’s name four times until 2011 when CV staff Services had grown and had an annual turnover in excess of £1.6 million.

Suspicions aroused about the identity of the man named on the licence, GLA inspectors visited CV Staff Services and found some workers referred to their boss as ‘Stasys’, while others called him ‘Charles’.

The court was told how as the GLA closed in, Mr Skarbalius, with the matters in Lithuania discontinued, had tried to rid himself of Luske ID and re-emerge as himself to preserve the numerous assets he had built up; including the labour supply agency and four properties purchased using Mr Luske’s ID.

He and his wife attempted to transfer a fraudulently obtained mortgage for his office premises into the name of her niece on the promise of a £12,000 handout and a pay rise.

The couple also sold their matrimonial home to other family members at an undervalued rate to remove traces of the name  Luske from that property but Mrs Skarbaliene continued to pay the mortgage.

Dave Powell, Senior Investigating Officer for the GLA, said: “The first of the GLA’s Licensing Standards states that a person named on a licence must be ‘fit and proper’. In this case, however, the defendants created a successful business and property portfolio as well as a very comfortable life for themselves and their family based entirely on fraud, lies and deception.”

“Even when we were closing in on the truth about his fake identity, Skarbalius steadfastly refused to concede the truth. Tenacious investigative work from GLA officers, however, provided the breakthrough we needed, while additional expertise of the police’s Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART) enabled us to unravel this extremely complex case.”

DC Grant Bailey, of the East Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART), said: “This has been a very complex investigation for both the RART and the GLA, but, by working in close and effective partnership, we have been able to successfully establish the evidence which has resulted in one person pleading guilty to multiple charges and one other being convicted at trial.”

“This investigation has demonstrated once again that the RART can offer the specialist investigative skills needed to support regulatory agencies when there are breaches in lawful practice.”

“We will now be pursuing Confiscation Orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act. This should enable us to seize any assets owned by the two convicted persons that have been obtained through criminal conduct,” he concluded.