AN official at Heathrow airport was found guilty of assisting a human trafficking ring and warned she faces jail.

A surveillance operation caught Kulbinder Singh allowing illegal immigrants on board flights to Canada without the proper documentation. The mother-of-four was watched letting three Asians board a plane with passports showing photos of young white men.

Singh, 33, of Crossway, Hayes, was paid £1,000 per person by a group led by Omjeet Sidhu, a 44 year-old chip shop owner. He and Satnam Bindra, 33, both from Leicester both pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.

Judge Richard Hayward spoke of the "misery" caused by human trafficking and warned Singh he was considering a custodial sentence.

An Air Canada investigation revealed that Singh had been on duty when ten previous illegal immigrants left Heathrow for Canada between March and May last year.

Singh was later found to have Sidhu's phone number and a carrier bag containing £13,000 in cash at her home.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Singh pleaded not guilty to the charges. She said she was "weak and tired" on the day in question and had simply not noticed the photos did not match up.

"If I'm not well I can't really pay much attention,' she said. "I'd been working from 6am until 9pm."

Singh also claimed she was keeping the money for her father and a family friend.

The incident took place on May 8 last year. Sidhu, Bindra and a 16-year-old boy checked in to Heathrow using their own passports.

Prosecutor Lyle Thompson said: "The 16-year-old boy was later seen with three Indian-looking men, the illegal immigrants trying to fly to Canada."

Singh pretended to check their documents before allowing them to pass.

Mr. Thompson said: "Once they got throught, the men were arrested by police."

The 16-year-old old boy was also convicted of conspiracy to obtain services by deception.

Mr Thompson had earlier told jurors: "You may think in some way it is not so bad if people are trying to get illegal immigrants out.

"But the trading of human beings and trafficking them across the world is a despicable trade whether it is into or out of the UK."