Dover immigration officials are used to stopping vehicles and finding illegal substances hidden in suitcases.

But when they stopped Bogden Croitor’s vehicle and opened up a case, they weren't expecting to find his wife.

Croitor, 30, from Stanmore, is from Latvia and has permission to live in the UK – but his Maldivian-born wife had twice been refused the right to come to Britain.

He later told officials how he had travelled to Calais in October last year to spend the weekend with his wife and claimed she suggested hiding in the suitcase, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

Natasha Spreadborough, for Croitor, said his wife had made numerous applications for a visa but was refused each time.

Judge Adele Williams took the unusual step of suspending the jail sentence after he admitted the smuggling charge.

She told him: “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.”

The judge said Croitor had deliberately “flouted” UK restrictions on immigration which is “an unfair thing to do because many people seek to enter the UK lawfully.”

He was given a 14 month jail sentence suspended for two years, do 100 hours of unpaid work for the community and pay £400 costs.

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