A fraudster who travelled around the country taking examinations for refugees to help get them visas or citizenship has been jailed for 32 months.

Ahmed Ali tried to take four examinations for people who wanted to be UK citizens at a test centre in Ilford, as well as Slough, Liverpool and Croydon last year.

Ali, 34, of Highams Park, used false passports and travel documents in his efforts to dupe the system but was spotted by officials who became suspicious, Croydon Crown Court heard.

On Tuesday he admitted four counts of fraud by false representation and four counts of possessing identity documents with intent.

Judge Daniel Flahive told Ali that he was an “imposter” who had launched a “deliberate targeting of the system” to help those who might not obtain what they wanted in terms of settlement or citizenship. He was sentenced to eight months for each count. Ali used bogus travel documents when he attended a test centre in Liverpool in December 2015 and in Slough in February 2016.

The father-of-five, who fled Somalia in 1994, was using a false Somali passport when he was arrested at a Croydon test centre in June 2016. Despite then being arrested and bailed Ali was again caught with a false Somali passport at a test centre in Ilford in December 2016.