The trial of a vicar accused of presiding over a "conveyor belt" of a sham marriages has dramatically collapsed over allegations Home Office officials lied in court. 

Reverend Nathan Ntege, 55, had been on trial alongside four alleged accomplices for more than a month until a judge threw out the case this week after it emerged immigration officers had concealed vital evidence.

The vicar had been charged with overseeing 494 weddings, the majority faked to secure immigrants leave to remain in the country, at St Aidan Church of England Church in Thornton Heath between 2007 and 2011.

Brian Miller, the church's verger, secretary Maudlyn Riveiere, alongside "fixers" Galena Petkova and Georgia Forteath were also said to have been involved in what prosecutor Edward Lucas told Inner London Crown Court last month was "industrial scale abuse of the system of immigration control".

Judge Nic Madge halted the trial on Wednesday and acquitted the five defendants, as well as a bride and groom accused of taking part in one of the weddings.

He said "bad faith and misconduct" had "tainted the whole case".

The defendants will not face a retrial. 

The trial collapsed after UK Border Agency were questioned in the witness box and it emerged evidence had been tampered with, video footage had gone missing and an investigation log had been doctored.

The Home Office said it had suspended three officers and referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A spokesman said: "The collapse of this trial is an extremely disappointing end to a long investigation.

"We expect the highest standards from all our staff, and clearly we are treating the judge's ruling that our officers acted in bad faith with the utmost seriousness.

"Three officers have been formally suspended and the matter referred to the IPCC for investigation.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

Your Local Guardian:

Church verger Brian Miller, left, has also been cleared

The Crown Prosecution Service said today it accepted the judge's ruling that the case had been "fatally undermined" and has launched an internal review.

A spokesman added: "We are now carefully considering the judge’s comments in relation to our handling of this case, which has clearly fallen below the high standards that we would expect. 

"We take these comments very seriously and we will now be conducting a full review into the handling of disclosure and other issues throughout the trial.

"We will ensure action is taken to address the problems highlighted in this case."

Rev Ntege, of Dunheved Road North, Thornton Heath, had been accused of the second-highest tally of sham marriages in British legal history.

He had denied 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, denied 15 charges of of facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.

Mr Miller, 81, of Owl Close, of South Croydon, and Ms Petkova, of Enfield, north London, each denied seven of the same charges, while Ms Forteath, 34, of South Norwood, denied two.