Students caught with false ID at entry exam

On 10th December, Jian Liu, 26 and Minzheng Du, 28, took Warwick’s English language entrance exam under false identities. The pair were sentenced on 5th February to six months in prison followed by immediate deportation to China.

Peter Dunn, Warwick University Press Officer, said: “Our own invigilators and examiners spotted the attempts to subvert a Warwick test and the University immediately alerted the relevant authorities.”

Dunn praised the vigilance of Warwick’s staff. “We are very pleased that this co-operation has resulted in successful prosecutions as it sends out a clear signal to anyone else attempting to subvert such tests.”

Liu was paid £580 by Baiyu Qin, 25, to cover the cost of taking his exam. Qin, a student at Brunel University, accepted Lui’s offer to take the Warwick University entrance exam after he failed an exam at his own university. Qin appeared at Coventry Crown Court on February 18th 2010.

Solicitor Gavin Merrylees argued that his client Qin was unaware of the severity of what he was doing, the Coventry Telegraph reported. “There was family enthusiasm for him to be qualified and get a qualification in England. They had funded him to come here and this is a matter which brings him much shame.”

Qin was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail with the recommendation that he should then be deported. Sentencing Qin, Recorder Nicholas Paines QC said: “You breached the trust of this country when you were allowed to enter here.”

A Warwick University spokesperson told the Coventry Telegraph: “They not only failed to take the English test but failed to have the intelligence to know that if you turn up with a photo that doesn’t look like you, you are not going to get very far. We have a thorough checking system and we are delighted that they have now been punished.”