£165,000 benefits fraudster lived in UK under false identity

An illegal immigrant lived in the UK for a decade under a false identity to secure herself a council home and swindle taxpayers out of almost £165,000 in benefits, a court heard.

Aminata Bangura, 44, was refused permission to stay in the country when she arrived from Sierra Leone as a student in 2004, but reapplied as Marie Buli and was granted leave to remain.

She secured a council home with her son, who is now 10 and needs lifelong NHS care for sickle cell anaemia, and started claiming benefits including working tax credit, income support, housing benefit and child tax credit, as well as a £50,000 student loan.

In May last year, Bangura admitted identity fraud and wrongly claiming about £100,000 in benefits and was jailed for two years. She was back in the dock yesterday to face sentencing for a further £65,000 of benefits fraud which came to light.

Inner London crown court heard that Bangura, of Camberwell, is now seeking leave to remain under her own name, relying on her status as a single mother and sole carer for her son.

The Home Office opted not to detain or deport her when she was freed from prison after serving less than half her sentence, and is assessing the fresh bid for leave to remain.

Yesterday, Judge Silas Reid sentenced Bangura to 10 months’ jail suspended for 18 months, telling her: “I am not going to put you back in prison and take you away from your son again.”

He ordered her to carry out 80 hours of community service, saying: “You stole from this country, so you can pay something back.” He said Bangura had not lived a lavish lifestyle with the money, but noted: “She is not entitled to be in the country from what I can see.”

Edward Duncan-Smith, for Bangura, said she had been “under the influence of a dominant partner” when defrauding the Department of Work and Pensions and Southwark council between 2008 and last year. Bangura admitted fraud by false representation.