AN illegal immigrant who used a false passport to get a job has been saved from jail by a moving letter written by his girlfriend.

A judge yesterday told African Abdourahamane Barry that people would usually be locked up for committing such serious fraud offences.

But he was given a community punishment after the judge read a letter from his partner, Victoria Hollinshead.

Miss Hollinshead, the mother of their 18-month-old son and a six-year-old from a previous relationship, wept in court as the sentence was passed.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, told 20-year-old Guinea national Barry that he regarded the case as "exceptional".

He said: "Although in the ordinary course, the use of false passports would mean imprisonment, for the sake of your children, who would undoubtedly suffer substantially if you were to go to prison, I am not going to sentence you to that."

Barry, of Crossfield, Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough, was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work for the community after he admitted possessing a false ID and obtaining a pecuniary advantage.

Teesside Crown Court heard that he used a fake French passport in the name of Antonio Decorato to get work with a Middlesbrough industrial services firm.

Barry - whose appeals to stay in the UK have been refused - worked for the firm from November 2003 until June the following year, and earned just over £6,000, said Jolyon Perks, prosecuting.

After his arrest last January, Barry, who faces deportation, admitted working illegally and paying £50 for the forged passport to get employment.

Judge Fox told him: "The law of the land is that you may not obtain employment by using false documentation. That's a kind of dishonesty I, and all others, have a duty to uphold and follow the law.

"I am not making any recommendation for deportation. That will simply duplicate the situation that already exists. You have already exhausted the whole procedure with regard to your asylum application."