NIGERIAN Taibat Oladeinde Abokede has been sentenced to six months imprisonment by Woolwich Crown Court for falsely claiming to have a child which she then used to obtain social housing.
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Ms Abokede, 45 of Telfer House in Dulwich, had fraudulently used false documentation to secure a two-bedroom flat with Southwark Council. She approached the local authority in 2004 claiming she was being made homeless and had a dependent child, using false documentation to support her claim.
Among the documents provided to back her application were a passport, a bank account statement, a birth certificate for her child, a national insurance number and a letter confirming the receipt of child benefits. Ms Abokede was subsequently offered the keys for a tenancy in Dulwich in June 2004 but early this year she was discovered as part of the ongoing clampdown on bogus tenants by Southwark Council.
Known as Operation Bronze, the clampdown is an aggressive campaign by the local authority to uncover illegal and bogus tenants. An investigation by the council's corporate anti-fraud team found that all the documents used in the application, including the child’s birth certificate, were fake.
Upon interrogation, Ms Abokede admitted she did not have a child of the name she claimed and .pleaded guilty to four charges of using false documentation on March 5 at Woolwich Crown Court. On Tuesday March 26, she was jailed for six months for her crimes.
Deputy council leader, Councillor Ian Wingfield, who is also the cabinet member for housing, said: “Southwark continues to demonstrate its zero tolerance against housing cheats. Making false applications deprives people in actual housing need and we will take whatever steps are necessary to make sure homes are occupied genuinely.”
Southwark's ongoing Operation Bronze campaign is using existing powers to tackle tenancy fraud and this is the eighth individual prosecuted as part of clampdown. So far 22 properties have been recovered under the campaign.
Home to thousands of Nigerians, Southwark Council is the largest local authority social landlord in London and the fourth largest nationally with 54,000 homes, of which around 39,000 are for rent. Among the neighbourhoods in the borough are Peckham, Camberwell, New Cross and Surrey Quays, all of which have large Nigerian communities.
- See more at: http://www.nigerianwatch.com/news/1518-nigerian-woman-jailed-in-london-for-falsely-claiming-to-have-a-child#sthash.CC5mB8Rn.dpuf
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