A Ceredigion chef has avoided a prison sentence after fraudulently applying for a passport for someone who was dead.

Kristian Apeletey, 42, from Aberarth, appeared before Swansea Crown Court for sentencing after admitting fraud by dishonestly making a false representation intending to obtain a passport.

The court was told that Apeletey had submitted a birth certificate in the name of John Reagan to support his application and when authorities got in touch over email, he signed his reply ‘John’.

When the fraud came to light, the 42-year-old said his mother had asked him to do it, and he said he believed Mr Regan to be his Ghanaian godfather who was living in America.

Emily Bennett, prosecuting, said in 2018 the passport agency received information from the General Register Office that Mr Regan had died in October 2006 and a result of that information, the passport was revoked. The court heard that according to the Met Police in London, Mr Regan had been a white male while the picture in the passport was that of a black male.

The prosecutor said that in August 2022 an application was made to renew Mr Regan's passport, and that the application was supported by the revoked passport and a birth certificate. The address and contact details on the application were those of the defendant.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said it was important for every country that its borders were kept secure, adding that someone using a passport that had been fraudulently obtained was a breach of that border security.

He also told the court he was "sceptical" about the version of events put forward by the defendant.

Apeletey was sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay £1,000 in prosecution costs.