A father and son pair of sacked Gatwick Airport immigration officers tried to defraud the son’s estranged wife of £28,000.

At Croydon Crown Court last week, Gulam Damani, 59, and Mohammed Damani, 29, both from Cheam, were sentenced for defrauding Shelina Damani, 29, and the Legal Services Commission.

The pair, who were dismissed from their jobs as immigration officers in 2006 after “misconduct offences” involving UK Border Agency (UKBA) computer systems, set out to dishonour Mrs Damani in 2007, the court heard.

A protracted campaign began after marriage problems led Mrs Damani to flee Mohammed Damani’s parents’ home in Warner Avenue.

The father and son sought to prevent Mrs Damani obtaining legal aid for a divorce by making repeated claims to the Legal Services Commission against her funding – supporting their allegations with documents they had manu- factured themselves.

Mrs Damani and her young daughter returned to her family home in Peterborough penniless after her husband and father-in-law had forged her signature to remove her name from jointly held accounts containing £28,000.

The pair then sent details of the same accounts to the Legal Services Commission showing Mrs Damani as an account holder to prevent her getting legal aid. They had earlier pleaded guilty to fraud offences at an earlier hearing.

Gulam Damani was sentenced to a midnight to 6am curfew for four months and his son was given a midnight to 6am curfew for nine months. The judge said he felt unable to give any other sentence due to the ill health of both men.

A UKBA spokesman said the pair were dismissed from their jobs after an investigation by the UKBA’s security and anti-corruption unit. He said the investigation began after information came to light about the pair abusing an internal computer system.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Adam Bryant of Sutton CID said: “This case shows domestic violence takes all forms.

“We will investigate these matters thoroughly to bring perpetrators before the courts.”