Angelique Blin of Overseas Angels

ANGELIQUE BLIN - THE FINAL CHAPTER

27 December 2010

In the middle of December, closure of sorts finally came to the case involving Angelique Blin who traded as an immigration/visa advisor.

The Royal Court in Guernsey closed the case against her as she could not appear to answer the charges as she had died. The seven charges of deception with an alternate seven charges of theft were formally closed.

ANGELIQUE BLIN's FRAUD HISTORY REVEALED

How visa crook Angelique Blin wanted to be portrayed for a publicity shoot, the reality was that she was conducting a mass deception at the expense of vulnerable people trying to get visas

Pinoy's involvement and investigation into Angelique Blin's affairs started with a complaint from three Cheshire-based Filipina care workers. They had paid Blin £1,750 each for her "company", Overseas Angels, to renew their work permits and visas which were coming up for expiry.

Here quite legally, living and working in Crewe, their initial visas were for four years, and obviously they had to apply to the British Home Office for extensions, a normal course of events.

GUERNSEY VISA CROOK ANGELIQUE BLIN DIES DAYS BEFORE TRIAL

Angelique Blin (pictured above during the trial in May at London's Southwark Crown Court where she was convicted on visa fraud charges) has died of a heart attack in Guernsey three weeks before appearing in court on theft and fraud charges.

The visa fraudster who spent the last five years making a business of stealing money from vulnerable people has escaped final justice, leaving hundreds of her victims out of pocket, in some cases with their lives destroyed.

GUERNSEY JUDGE ADJOURNS VISA FRAUD TRIAL - SLATES DEFENDANT's FAMILY FOR EMAIL FLOOD

26 August 2010

More psychiatric tests ordered as judge critical of e-mail lobbying from defendant's family 

A judge in Guernsey tells family of alleged visa fraudster Angelique Blin to stop sending him e-mails in reference to the case.

IMMIGRATION ADVISOR's FRAUD TRIAL ADJOURNED ON GUERNSEY

14 August 2010

Overseas Angels, the company name Immigration Advisor Angelique Blin  traded under. A Guernsey court adjourned her trial on theft and fraud until next week. 

IMMIGRATION ADVISER CONFINED TO A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL FOR TESTS

15 June 2010

Angelique Blin, who trades as an immigration/visa adviser under the name of Overseas Angels, has been ordered confined to a psychiatric hospital on the Channel Island of Guernsey for treatment and tests.

ROGUE IMMIGRATION ADVISER CONVICTED IN A BRITISH COURT 

Former BUPA executive Angelique Blin convicted of visa/immigration charges - desperate attempt at claiming "ministerial exemption" proved false

London, 13 May 2010

Angelique Blin who traded under the name of Overseas Angels was finally convicted in a London court yesterday. Formerly with British health care giant BUPA (originally called the British United Provident Association) heading their group's HR department bringing into the UK foreign nurses and healthcare workers, Blin branched out on her own.

After an eight day trial in London's Southwark Crown Court (equivalent to a Regional Trial Court), Blin 49 (below, photographed leaving court during the trial), now a resident of the Channel Island of Guernsey, was convicted on 3 charges brought by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) operating as a visa/immigration advisor when not permitted to do so.

The specimen charges related to a Filipino and a Sierra Leone national and it was proved Blin had acted in contravention of the OISC's regulations as she had been removed from the register of approved immigration agents for malpractice.

After being stricken from this register, Blin had submitted an appeal but had withdrawn it at the last minute just before that appeal hearing. This meant Blin would not be able to operate in the UK giving visa/immigration advice or offering services. Blin had then attempted a smoke and mirrors manouver to remain operating in the UK whilst officially working in Guernsey where the OISC's laws did not apply.

Part of this cover-up involved the use of mail drop addresses and hotel business centers in London and Guernsey, and evidence produced against her in court relating to using a hotel business center in London including faxes, proved crucial to the prosecution's case and ultimately to the guilty verdict.

Defense barrister Dee Connoly had to recall Blin to the witness stand and introduce new evidence after her case had closed in a desperate salvage attempt. Prosecution barrister Ben Lloyd had effectively destroyed Blin in examination of the evidence against her and of her attempts to deny she was acting within the UK. Under the prosecution's questioning, Blin had claimed she had exemption from the OISC's laws by a British government minister. This had not been presented in evidence by the defense team, and both Lloyd and Judge Price leapt on this. Blin was asked if she could produce this exemption, which she agreed to do the next day of the trial. This, when produced, was to totally add to the devastation of Blin's credibitlity to the jury.

On Monday's resumption, Blin's defense team spent over an hour going through old emails and faxes until the jury passed a note in exasperation to the judge asking where was this ministerial exemption letter/certificate. The judge agreed at which point the defense team raised a point of law and the jury were sent out of the court.

Connoly stated she wanted the letter censored, to which the judge agreed, as it mainly contained complaints against Blin whilst she had been on the OISC register. The judge stated that this would be damaging to Blin's case, but as it was not part of the prosecution's evidence could be concealed from the jury.

Lloyd concurred and the letter was then heavily censored, so by the time the jury were presented with this, all that remained visible were sentences stating that Blin was permitted to give immigration advice and service only whilst on the island of Guernsey, and not in the UK. The letter was in fact a copy of correspondence between two British MP's who were discussing some of Blin's many complaints against various government departments and officials.

The first prosecution witness was Phillip Jowett, a police liaison officer with the Home Office's Borders & Immigration Agency (BIA). He produced documentary evidence of Blin submitting a work permit application for Juniper Perez from the Philippines. Perez worked for the Avon Park Health Care group in Bath. This evidence included a fax from the Royal Gardens Hotel in London's Kensington area where Blin used the business center. This evidence was not challenged by the defense, but later Blin claimed it was a forgery although admitting it was her signature.

The second prosecution witness was Daniel Kaidaneh from Sierra Leone who had entered the UK as a student, but whose visa had run out and was attempting to submit a new application. He had met Blin at the hotel where she used the business center having been introduced by his girlfriend, Youssra Ahmidi (third witness) who was employed at the hotel's business center and knew Blin did immigration work. Both he and Ahmidi gave evidence of the dates that Blin had begun work on Kaidaneh's case and payments made to her. More crucially was evidence from both Kaidaneh and Ahmidi that once they had paid Blin £2,200 work ceased and Blin demanded a further £2,000 to resume work.

Neither Perez nor Kaidaneh reveived their work permit or student visa renewal, and it is understood Perez had to return to the Philippines.

The fouth prosecution witness was lead investigator for the OISC Doug Bewley. Bewley presented evidence showing Blin had originally been registered with the OISC on the 28th October 2004 giving her address at 1 Harley Street in London (this was in fact a mailing address only, Blin also used a mail drop at London's Cavendish Square, both prestigious addresses). More evidence presented showed Blin had applied to have her license renewed on the 15th June 2005, and that on the 13th October 2006 Blin had been informed by the OISC that her registration had been withdrawn, that it was unlawful for her to offer or provide services on immigration matters in the UK and that she had 28 days if she wished to lodge an appeal.

Blin notified the OISC that she was lodging an appeal and a hearing date was set for February 2007. In the event, Blin withdrew her appeal at the last minute.

Bewley then stated that because of indications to the OISC that Blin was still in the immigration business in the UK, she was invited to an interview with the OISC, firstly in May 2008. A total of 3 invitations to attend an interview were made which Blin declined. Eventually the OISC applied for and got a summons issued through the courts which was served requiring her to attend an interview under caution. This she eventually did which led to this prosecution case.

The fifth witness was not called, a Mr Hokkaday, who is a security manager at the Royal Gardens Hotel. His evidence was agreed to be allowed by the defense and prosecution, submitted to the court and shown to the jury. This evidence showed Blin's use of the facilities of the hotel's business center on various dates from March to May 2007 as representative evidence.

Blin was then called to the stand by the defense. She stated she was in receipt of various degrees including a diploma from the Sorbonne in Paris as well as being a linguist in four languages. She told the court she had had various jobs in her career path which included being a stewardess then translator on airlines including British Airways, North West Airlines and KLM, as well as being a private secretary to a Saudi prince and the Luxembourg Royal Family. She then headed BUPA's section recruiting and employing foreign nationals into the UK as nurses and health care workers. Blin then stated she started caring for her elderly and sick father in London whilst at the same time setting up Overseas Angels in 2001.

The rest of Blin's evidence under examination can best be described as coming straight out of an Alice in Wonderland novel by Lewis Carrol. Even the judge showed his exasperation at one point by stopping Blin and telling Miss Connoly that he did not understand a word of what she [Blin] had just said and would she get her to detail the money she had charged Daniel Kaidaneh.

Prosecution barrister Ben Lloyd had a difficult task of trying to get Blin to actually answer specific questions, but he persisted and conclusively proved the case to the jury. One instance was of Blin's educational achievments. Lloyd had spotted a legal qualification claimed by Blin, when challenged on this point, Blin eventually conceded she did not have the qualification and had in fact started but not completed the course.

Blin also claimed that a fax sent was a forgery, although conceding she was in London at the time, was at the hotel in Kensington, and that the signature was hers. She could give no explanation as to why anyone should have forged the fax when she was working on the case in question.

After closing speeches by the prosecution and defense, the judge summed up and the jury were sent out to consider the verdict. After 4 hours and 2 written questions to the judge on points of law, the jury returned a unanimous vedict of guilty on all three counts.

Prosecution and defense then made their submissions to the presiding judge.

Judge Price was told that complaints to the OISC prior to Blin's removal from the register were serious cases of malpractice. Prosecution also asked for costs and compensation to be awarded to Daniel Kaidaneh.

Defense submitted mitigation claiming distress on Blin's part because of the trial and financial problems. The judge agreed with defense that these charges were at the lower end of the spectrum, and Blin would not be jailed.

Blin was then told by the judge she had attempted a serious cover-up to circumvent the OISC regulations trying to show she operated from Guernsey when in fact operating from in London, and he sentenced her to a Conditional Discharge for eighteen months, compensation of £2,200 to be paid to Kaidaneh within six months and reduced prosecution costs of £2,000 to be paid within twelve months.

Blin below in a publicity photo - image courtesy Guernsey Press - click to enlarge