A man who faked a law degree certificate and passport to get jobs in legal firms and be paid thousands of pounds has avoided an immediate prison term.

Aditya Rai forged certificates to show he had a law degree and created a false CV to gain employment with two firms in Gloucestershire and as an in-house legal assistant in Bristol.

In total Rai, who went by the name of Ali Ryan, was paid around £10,000 for short terms of employment as a legal assistant or paralegal. He resigned from one firm and was sacked by another due to failing reference checks.

He was charged with three counts of fraud by false representation, possessing/controlling a false UK driving licence and using a false instrument with intent.

Rai admitted the charges in March along with a forgery relating to a false Irish driving licence. Another two fraud offences were taken into consideration.

Sitting at Gloucester Crown Court, Judge Lawrie sentenced Rai to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work. The judge told him: ‘You are a dishonest person and you took three jobs with legal firms completely misleading them about what you were doing.’

The court heard that when Rai's home was searched in 2022 his laptop was seized and was found to have the fake documents on it. Rai had been on remand since February after he was arrested at a port with the fake Irish driving licence under the name of Ali Riyan. He had been identified by his tattoos and was arrested for failing to attend court on the fraud charges.

In mitigation, Rai's counsel said the offences were committed during the Covid lockdown when he had no financial support and was unable to earn money legitimately. Once he had entered the spiral of deception, it was submitted, he found it difficult to escape.

Following the sentencing, a spokesperson for the Gloucestershire Police economic crime team said: ‘Rai developed a complex web of false identities, documents, and financial accounts to commit fraud against numerous victims over a sustained period. He offended against government agencies, universities, private companies, and individuals. A long and painstaking police investigation was required to understand and uncover the extent of his offending.’