Grenfell fraudster, who claimed £103,000, jailed for six years
A Grenfell fraudster who claimed he suffered anxiety and constant nightmares after losing five members of his family to pocket over £100,000 has been jailed for six years.
Sharife Elouahabi, 38, took advantage of the tragedy to claim £103,475 over a year after pretending his family died in the fire that claimed 72 lives.
He told council workers on the night of the fire he had tried to get into the burning building but was stopped by police and his lies were "designed to generate sympathy and to lend a degree of authenticity."
The father-of-one said he lived on the 21st floor in flat 182 of the tower where the El-Wahabi family - a mother, father and three children - died.
Elouahabi approached Kensington and Chelsea council just nine days after the tragedy claiming he was the father's nephew.
Although he did know their 20-year-old son Yasin, he was not a relative.
Prosecutor Alexandra Felix told Isleworth Crown Court the fraud was "deliberate and contrived."
In another interview Elouahabi claimed he had been out at an all night cafe breaking Ramadan on the night of the fire.
Elouahabi was due to receive resettlement payments worth a further £14,730 to go towards a flat and free utilities before the fraud was uncovered this June.>Over the year he was put up in four different hotels but was kicked out of two for "failing to comply with the rules".>An investigation revealed before going to the hotels, he was likely living with his girlfriend at her flat in Kensington.>Mobile phone data showed he was "frequently" at the flat and he was arrested there for failing surrender numerous times to police.
Elouahabi, who pleaded guilty to the fraud on the first day of the trial on November 5, appeared via video link from Wandsworth Prison.
He sighed numerous times while the prosecutor outlined the case.
Yusuf Solley, mitigating for Elouahabi, said he had grown up in foster care and was abandoned by his father.
Mr Solley said Elouahabi committed the fraud, not for the money, but because he was homeless and needed housing.