Whistleblowers: Student adviser gets community service

Overseas student immigration adviser Tony Otto has been sentenced to 150 hours' community service for providing illegal immigration services.

Mr Otto, who was trading as Wings of Justice International, was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court last week after being found guilty of providing immigration advice outside the legal regulatory framework - a criminal offence under the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act. He was ordered to pay £1,250 in legal costs.

Mr Otto, 40, of Battersea Park Road, London, was not registered with the Office for the Immigration Services Commissioner, which brought the prosecution after receiving complaints about his activities from students and others.

The THES reported last month that the court had heard evidence from a Zimbabwean student at Thames Valley University who had paid Mr Otto for services she never received. Mr Otto was acquitted of any offence relating to her case, but the OISC, using evidence from other former clients, proved that he was not fit or competent to be providing immigration advice.