Corrupt civil servant jailed

Corrupt civil servant Charles Myton has been jailed for two years having been found guilty of seven counts of forgery, after knowingly countersigning seven fraudulent passport applications.

Myton's conviction follows that of another former civil servant, Valentina Costley, who was sentenced on 2 August to two-years' and two-months' imprisonment, for falsely completing and countersigning 12 fraudulent passport applications.

They both, independently to one another, gave details of strangers wanting a passport for illegal purposes and then countersigned them. In Costley's case, she often filled out the entire application, but they both claimed to have known them personally for over three years. Costley charged up to £3,000 per application.