A 22-YEAR-OLD Albanian woman could speak no English when arrested for producing false documents in Holyhead in a people smuggling check.

But after seven months in prison on remand, Ina Bufi had made astonishing progress, a judge heard. Ina Bufi had passed courses in English, maths and IT.

“She comes across as a very intelligent girl, a qualified nurse in Albania and was going to do her master’s degree,” said her barrister Seamran Sidhu at Caernarfon crown court, Gwynedd. She now had a good command of English.

She was jailed for 54 weeks for presenting a false Greek passport and driving licence to enter this country at Holyhead after arriving on a Dublin ferry.

She had originally claimed to be a victim of modern slavery and pleaded not guilty but when the Home Office rejected this she admitted the two offences.

Because she had been in custody since July she will qualify for release but will be deported, the court heard.

Judge Timothy Petts remarked about her spell in prison: ”I’m pleased to have been informed you have been using your time productively.”

Matthew Curtis, prosecuting, said Bufi was a front seat passenger in a people carrier driven by Irishman Robert Marsland in which there were five Albanians in the back.