A man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after turning his semi-detached home into a "forgery factory".

Bais Sulaiman, 35, and his wife, from Thamesmead, south east London, made vast numbers of bogus identities for immigrants, Southwark Crown Court was told.

A police raid on the house found a bank of computers and other specialised equipment in an upstairs room.

About 13,000 forged documents, including birth certificates and driving licences were discovered in rented garages.

Luxury house

Police also found more than 1,000 national insurance cards. A price list subsequently showed they sold for about �150 each.

The scheme, which had lasted for some years, had allowed the couple to buy an eight-bedroom mansion in their native Nigeria.

Sulaiman admitted 31 specimen counts of forgery, two of attempting to facilitate illegal entry and one of handling stolen goods.

He also asked for 2,639 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

'Highly sophisticated'

Jailing him, Judge Paul Dodgson said: "You have pleaded guilty to being the operator of a highly-sophisticated endeavour, which produced over a number of years documents, the quality of which I have seen for myself.

"In my judgment, I have no doubt they could pass for genuine."

Sulaiman's 39-year-old wife was jailed for 12 months.

She will effectively be able to walk free as she has spent 12 months in prison on remand.

The judge said he bore in mind that her six children depended on her for their care.