A MAN and a woman who were arrested at Stansted Airport after they tried to enter the UK illegally using false passports have each been jailed for 12 months.

Artur Hamzaj, 31, and Klea Lata, 24, arrived at the airport on June 14 on a Ryanair flight from Milan and presented French passports which were identified as being false by Border Force officials, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The couple of Gilliot Road, Birmingham, admitted possessing false identity documents with improper intent and arriving in the UK without proper entry clearance.

Simon Connolly, mitigating, said the defendants weren’t in a relationship and had been told it would be better if they travelled together.

He said Lata’s life in Albania had been difficult and she had tried to get into the UK so she could get work and send money back to her parents.

Mr Connolly said Lata, who was a dental nurse, had previously applied for a visa and it had been refused.

He said she was pregnant and was due to give birth next week.

The court heard Hamzaj had come to the UK in the back of a lorry in 2017 and had been granted temporary residency but his application for settled status had been refused.