AN AMAZON worker used false identity documents to hire a van, the crown court heard.

Brazilian nationals Dyego Silveria da Silva and his wife Daniely Denicolo da Silva Silveira originally came to the UK in 2018 on six-month tourist visas.

Prosecutor Nicholas Hall told Swindon Crown Court on Friday that police had visited the couple’s home in the town on February 26 last year as part of an investigation into unrelated matters that have not been pursued by the force.

Mr Hall said: “When police searched their property they found various fraudulent identity documents. It seems that these defendants came to the UK in 2018. They had six month tourist visas and they then over-stayed. They used the various documents, generally speaking, to gain employment in this country.”

Those documents included a fraudulent Portuguese driving licence, an Italian ID card, a UK driving licence and a Portuguese ID card.

Dyego da Silva used the driving licence to hire a van so he could work as an Amazon delivery driver. His wife had used the fraudulent documents to obtain work through employment agency GAP Personnel.

Dante Leccacorvi, for Dyego da Silva, emphasised that his client had used the identity documents to obtain work rather than enter the UK illegally. He had cooperated fully with the investigation and entered his guilty plea at an early stage.

He was concerned about being sent to prison as he and his wife had a two-year-old child, who was being looked after by his mother – herself on a tourist visa. His future in the UK was in the hands of the Home Office.

Andrew Frymann, for Daniely da Silva, asked the judge to impose a suspended sentence, noting his client’s early guilty pleas, good character, commitment to hard work and the fact she had a young child.

He said there was a significant difference between those who used forged documents to enter the country illegally and those looking to obtain work.

“A fully-informed member of the public sitting listening to this sentencing hearing would perfectly understand why the court took the view a suspended sentence would be appropriate in this case,” he added.

Dyego Silveria Da Silva, 35, of Read Street, pleaded guilty to possession of false Italian and Portuguese ID cards and UK and Portuguese driving licences with improper intent. He admitted committing fraud by providing false ID documents to HCS Services to hire a van and to RAM Distribution Ltd to obtain work.

Daniely Denicolo Da Silva Silveira, 32, also of Read Street, admitted possession of a false Portuguese identity document and fraudulently using a Portuguese ID document to obtain employment at GAP Personnel.

Neither defendant had previous convictions.

Sentencing Dyego to six months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months and his wife to four months suspended for 18 months, Recorder Elisabeth Bussey-Jones said she had suspended the sentences as the impact on their child of its parents being sent to custody would be extreme.

Dyego da Silva was ordered to comply with a four month curfew. Daniely was curfewed for two months.