UK: Somali Asylum-Seeker Used Fake ID For £91,000 Benefit Fraud
London, 06 Dec 2013 (SDN) — A judge ruled that Ayan Ismail, 39, could not be immediately removed from the country because she has a seven-year-old daughter who was born here, even though she was in the UK illegally when she became pregnant.
Adding insult to the decision, Crown Court Judge David Tomlinson ruled that she would not be obliged to repay any of the money she has fraudulently claimed, saying: ‘Awarding compensation is undesirable in a case like this.’
The mother-of-four’s litany of deception began when she entered the country in 1998 as a Canadian citizen by marriage.
Once in the UK, she applied for a national insurance number under a false identity and used it to claim housing benefit council tax benefit, income support, disability living allowance and employment and support allowance.
Under that false name she was convicted at Warwick Crown Court on September 30, 2004 of seeking to remain in the UK, by deception, and was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for twelve months.
Then, using another bogus name of Saediya Mohamed in October 2005 she then successfully applied for permanent leave to remain in the UK as an asylum seeker.
Still in the country, she continued to use a false identity in a bid to claim permanent asylum.
At Chelmsford Crown Court on June 26, 2009 she received eighteen months imprisonment for possession of a forged National Insurance card, and seeking to obtain leave in the UK by deception.
During this time, Ismail married a UK citizen and her three oldest daughters were granted temporary visas to enter the UK for her wedding, all are still here.
Deportation proceedings were served against the scammer on July 29 2010, but by that time she had given birth to fourth child in Britain and a pending custody case means she still cannot be removed.
At Woolwich Crown Court today, the true cost of Ismail’s deception was laid bare.
From December 2005 she had continued to claim £46,634 in housing benefit, £5,047 in council tax benefit, £21,470 in income support, £15,092 in disability living allowance and £3,330 in employment and support allowance.
Her home was raided in November, last year and a search revealed correspondence in Ismail’s name and her fake identity of Saediya Mohamed.
She collapsed and an ambulance rushed her to hospital, postponing any questioning, and a second interview was
abandoned when she turned up with all of her children.
Prosecutor Miss Eleanor Mawrey told the court: ‘Miss Ismail is a Canadian citizen with no entitlement to claim state benefits in the United Kingdom.
She applied for a National Insurance number in a false name, claiming exceptional need, and for proof of identity included a child benefit claim form and a British Telecom bill.
‘Despite those identity fraud convictions she was still signing forms in the name of Saediya Mohamed’ added Miss Mawrey. ‘All those claims were fraudulent from the outset.’
Judge Tomlinson told Ismail, who needed the assistance of an interpreter: ‘Not for the first time you have adopted a false identity and using that identity you have obtained this money from hard-working people in this country.
‘The aggravating factor is that you have previous convictions and have served a custodial sentence.
‘There is an overwhelming public interest to send out a message by sending you to prison, but there is also the impact this would have on your child.’
Ismael pleaded guilty one week before her trial to three counts of obtaining a money transfer by deceptions, one count of evading a liability by deception and one count of fraud by failing to disclose information, with intent to make a gain.
Source: Mail Online