A parish vicar conducted hundreds of sham marriages, wedding up to six couples a day in a "matrimonial conveyor belt", a court has heard.

Reverend Nathan Ntege presided over more than 400 weddings in two years at St Jude's with St Aidan Church of England Church in Thornton Heath, where immigrants are said to have queued to be married, some even sharing dresses, to secure leave to remain in the UK.

Prosecutors allege Brian Miller, the church's verger, and its secretary Maudlyn Riveiere, were also complicit in "industrial scale abuse of the system of immigration control".

All three appeared at Inner London Crown Court this morning, on trial alongside alleged "fixers" Galena Petkova and Georgia Forteath.

They were arrested after the "inordinate number" of weddings held at the Thornton Road church, which held just six in 2006 but 223 in 2010, aroused the suspicion of immigration officials.

Rev Ntege, 55, of Dunheved Road North, Thornton Heath, conducted 494 weddings - many allegedly fake - in the five years leading up to his arrest in February 2011.

It is thought he stands accused of the second highest number of sham marriages in legal history.

Prosecutor Edward Lucas said: "The Crown maintains that Rev Nathan Ntege was the lynchpin and vital part of this enterprise because it was he who conducted the marriages in the full knowledge they were bogus.

"In this position he betrayed both the trust of law abiding and loyal parishioners of the church and the church authorities who had both appointed and placed trust him."

Rev Ntege is also alleged to have defrauded the church out of £69,498 in fees that should have been paid for the weddings, instead transferring £55,000 to various recipients in Uganda, where he was born.

He denies 14 charges of facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law and one of fraud by abuse of position between January 2007 and May 2011.

Ms Riviere, 67, of Lucerne Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon, denies 15 charges of of facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.

Mr Miller, 81, of Owl Close, of South Croydon, denies seven charges of commissioning a breach of UK immigration law.

Ms Forteath, 34, of South Norwood, denies two charges of commissioning a breach of UK immigration law.

Ms Petkova, 52, of Enfield, north London, denies seven of the same charges.

Also on trial are Angela Palachie, 54, of Florida Road, Thornton Heath, and Innocent Odoh, 34, of Lewisham, who are both charged with entering into false marraiges.

They each deny a charge of facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law and another of deception in relation to UK immigration law. 

The trial continues.