YOUR wedding is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, but this would-be groom was led away from his ceremony in handcuffs.

UK Border Agency officers broke up a suspected sham wedding at Oxford’s Tidmarsh Lane register office and now the groom is facing deportation.

Immigration officers broke up the ceremony between a Pakistani man and Polish woman on Wednesday morning, the second suspected sham marriage at the same venue in the last two months.

The 24-year-old man, who was living in the UK illegally having overstayed his visa, was arrested.

The 20-year-old Polish woman, who was believed to be living in the Oxford area, was questioned and later released.

The registrar who was dealing with the couple raised the alarm when she had suspicions about the arrangement.

Home office spokesman Adam Edwards said: “Registrars have a legal obligation to inform us if they have any suspicions about a wedding.

“If a couple want to marry they have to give notice of their intention to the registration service.

“If they are showing signs they don’t know each other or can’t speak the same language, the registrar will get in touch with us.”

This operation was carried out with the help of Oxfordshire’s superintendent registrar Alicja Gilroy.

Immigration enforcement officers have the option to arrest the individuals before the wedding, or, as in this case, turn up on the day itself when they know that the couple will both be there.

The Border Agency refused to identify the couple.

A sham marriage is not illegal in itself, but can be a cover for a number of offences from perjury to facilitating a breach of immigration law.

This operation was the second suspected sham marriage broken up in Oxford in the last two months.

On April 5 the wedding ceremony of a 25-year-old Bangladeshi man and a 24-year-old Polish woman was prevented from taking place at the Tidmarsh Lane office by the Border Agency.

The man voluntarily left the country after being told he had no right to be here, having overstayed his visa.

His would-be bride was questioned and later released.

Regional director for Home Office Immigration Enforcement Paul Wylie said: “This is the latest example of the excellent work we are doing in the Thames Valley to clamp down on sham weddings. We are working closely with registrars across the region to prevent people from abusing the marriage system in a bid to get round our immigration laws.”