A UK vicar conducted hundreds of sham weddings so foreign nationals could stay in the country, a London court has been told.
Reverend Nathan Ntege, 55, is accused of marrying almost 500 bogus couples at a church in Thornton Heath, south-east London.
The jury at Inner London Crown Court was told on Tuesday that Ntege was the "lynchpin" of a group that facilitated a "matrimonial conveyor belt" at St Jude's with St Aidan Church.
"The weddings that form the subject of this case were neither conducted correctly or legally and their sole purpose was to facilitate an industrial scale abuse of the system of immigration control within the UK," prosecutor Edward Lucas told the court.
He said that many of the marriage involved EEA (European Economic Area) nationals - mainly Bulgarian - marrying non-EEA nationals so the latter could attempt to seek to remain in the UK.
Immigration officers became suspicious because of the "inordinate number of weddings that were taking place at the parish church", which rose from six a year to six a day.
Lucas said the weddings were "somewhat farcical".
He spoke of several brides sharing the same wedding dress and queuing up at the back of the church waiting to get married.
Speaking about one bride, he told the jury: "It is possible to see the back of her bra in the photos where it is apparent that she couldn't do the dress up at the back because it was too small for her."
There were six other defendants in the dock as the prosecution case was opened for the 12-week trial.
All the defendants deny all of the charges.
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