Hitting back: Mohammed Mattar plans to sue the Home Office after he spent two years awaiting trial An imam accused of conducting almost 600 sham marriages plans to the government for putting him through 'two years of hell' after a Home Office blunder forced prosecutors to drop charges. Mohammed Mattar demanded a personal apology from UK Border Agency chiefs today for 'making a mug' of him after the case against the 62-year-old collapsed. The Egyptian-born bookseller said investigators searched 'every last inch' of his home and an Islamic bookshop he ran in Bayswater, west London, which has since shut down.
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Mohammed Mattar said UK Border Agency had made a 'mug' of him
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He was due to stand trial charged with leading 580 sham marriages
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But case dropped after almost two years due to a paperwork blunder
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Mattar, 62, of north London, said: 'It has affected me psychologically'
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He openly admitted performing £100 weddings but said they were legal
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Bookseller demanded apology and said he was glad name was cleared
'They were for people who wanted to be married under @placeholder law.