Pakistanis Saqib Rehman and Mansoor Khan were arrested following a police immigration raid on a city house, when both were found with passports in other people’s names.

Peterborough Crown Court heard one of the men had paid thousands of pounds to secure his fake documents and was brought to the UK on the back of a lorry.

Both were found living in squalid and overcrowded conditions in the house in Saxon Road, Eastfield.

Yesterday, Judge Sean Enright sentenced the pair to nine months in jail each, warning they would be sent home once they had served their time.

He said: “One suspects you were both living lives of misery on the fringes of society, but these offences are so serious that only custody can be justified.

“In respect of both of you, I also make a recommendation for your deportation.”

The court was told the men were captured in an early morning police operation on August 3, when they were found crammed into a single room with another man.

Rehman (28) gave false details to officers, but a Pakistani passport was found in his suitcase bearing a different name, that of Imran Ahmed. He later admitted both identities were fake.

Emily Coates, defending Rehman, said he had come to this country in 2007 after paying £7,000 to an agent in his home country for a passport and safe passage to the UK.

“He was told he couldn’t arrive on his own passport because he had overstayed his visa on a previous visit,” she said.

“He had been due to get married in an arranged marriage, but left the country after deciding not to go through with it.”

Khan (29) was found with a passport in his jacket pocket in the name of Mohammed Tyab, but police discovered education certificates in his possession betraying his real name.

Thomas Brown, representing Khan, said his client had paid £300 in this country for a black market passport containing false visa stamps so he could look for work.

Mr Brown said: “Khan tells me that what he was seeking was a passport in his own name. He was not best pleased when it turned up with the wrong identity on it.”

Both men admitted a single charge of possessing false identity documents at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court two days after the raid.

The Home Office has served deportation papers on the pair to be enforced at the end of their sentences.