Man jailed for false paternity claims in immigration scam

A man who falsely claimed to be the father of eight Albanian children as part of an immigration conspiracy has been jailed.

Gerald Cera, 28, was sentenced to six years in jail at St Albans Crown Court today following a successful prosecution by the Crown Prosecution Service. A jury previously found Cera guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the United Kingdom following a trial in August.

Between September 2022 and August 2024, Gerald Cera was named as the father in passport applications for eight Albanian infants to help obtain them UK citizenship. 

Cera, originally from Albania, provided personal documents including his own UK passport and naturalisation certificate, to support the applications. Payments for the applications were associated with bank cards linked to a ‘G Cera’ and contact email addresses provided were often also in his name. At sentencing, the court heard that the scam involved an increasingly ‘high degree of planning and sophistication’ over time, with staged photographs of Cera with the babies and their mothers being produced to support his claims.

To secure the conviction, CPS prosecutors had to demonstrate to the jury that Cera was aware the applications were made with him named as the father and, crucially, that he was not the father to any of the infants. They were able to effectively highlight inconsistencies in Cera’s testimony to a jury in order to discredit his version of events, even in the absence of DNA samples for seven of the eight babies.  

The investigation uncovered that Cera was part of a conspiracy to obtain UK passports for babies who had no right to get one. A relationship was also established between Cera and Petrit Musa, who pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming to father 13 children born to Albanian mothers on UK passport applications earlier this month. 

Cera was also convicted of failing to comply with a notice, for refusing to provide police with his phone and laptop passcodes following his arrest at Luton Airport on 16 February 2025. 

Following the successful investigation and prosecution, Cera has been deprived of his UK citizenship by the Home Office. All the children for whom Cera supported citizenship applications have also had their passports revoked.

Roma Karampatsi, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Thames and Chiltern said: “Throughout the investigation and trial process, Cera’s account has been riddled with inconsistencies. 

“By fraudulently seeking UK citizenship for those with no right to it, Cera undermined our immigration system and those who seek to come by legal and legitimate means. Working closely with police and Home Office, we exposed Cera’s crimes and made sure he was held accountable for them.  

“I hope today’s outcome demonstrates that the Crown Prosecution Service is committed to robustly prosecuting those who exploit our immigration system.”

Alex Norris MP, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, said: “We will not stand by while criminal gangs abuse our immigration system by exploiting children to make quick cash.

“These sentences show that those who attempt to exploit our borders will be brought to justice, with our Immigration Enforcement teams working day and night, doing whatever it takes, to protect our communities from harm.

“Our Plan for Change will allow officers to go even further, with our Borders Bill granting counter-terror style powers to law enforcement to enforce earlier arrests of immigration offenders.”