A JUDGE branded a British diplomat who granted a fake visa to his Filipino mistress as a liar who had damaged the reputation of the Foreign Office.

Father-of-three Sharad Ladva, 45, from Vicarage Street, Warminster, was found guilty on two counts of misconduct in a public office at Soutwark Crown Court on Tuesday following a trial. He was sentenced to three years in jail.

Ladva also fast-tracked a ten-year application for a notorious conman and helped 30 immigrants into the country illegally while working in the British Consulate in the Philippines. All the offences dated between February and November 2002.

Judge Paul Dodgson said: "You have lied and lied. You lied to your family and you lied under oath when you gave evidence during the trial.

"While you were working at the Foreign Office in Manila you also manipulated those under you by making them process visas which they did not feel should have been processed.

"You have damaged the reputation of the Foreign Office and you have damaged probably irreparably your own professional reputation. "These offences may well have started at the behest of your lover in so much as she wanted a visa to Britain and you helped her to obtain it."

Among those given visas were a father and his two sons who, according to the forms, were due to stay as guests at Ladva's home.

The family were granted leave to remain in the UK for ten years - although their stated 'reason for visit' was a two-week holiday.

Several young people were fast-tracked for visas - a process called facilitation - on the basis that they were high ranking business officials working for the multinational oil company Shell.

During the trial Ladva, who denied the charges, said he had done everything by the book and claimed the Filipino woman he helped again a visa was a 'close friend' and not his lover.

Ladva was arrested after a number of colleagues blew the whistle after noticing that bank account details submitted on several of the application forms were identical.