A NIGERIAN COUPLE WHO USED A STRING OF FALSE IDENT

A NIGERIAN COUPLE WHO USED A STRING OF FALSE IDENTITIES TO

SWINDLE MORE THAN #27,000 FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL

SECURITY WERE GIVEN JAIL SENTENCES TODAY (THU).

AKIN SHEBANJO, 30, WHO LIVED IN A BRIXTON SQUAT, USED 29

FALSE IDENTITIES TO COLLECT MORE THAN #17,000 IN 18 MONTHS BY

IDENTIFYING HIMSELF WITH GENUINE BIRTH CERTIFICATES AND RENT BOOKS TO

CLAIM HOUSING BENEFITS.

POLICE ONLY DISCOVERED THE RACKET WHEN THEY KEPT

SURVEILLANCE ON THE FLAT IN CARLTON COURT, MYATTS FIELDS ESTATE,

BRIXTON, IN CONNECTION WITH ANOTHER MATTER.

TODAY HE WAS JAILED FOR 30 MONTHS CONCURRENT ON EIGHT

SPECIMEN COUNTS OF OBTAINING MONEY BY DECEPTION BETWEEN MAY 1983 AND

OCTOBER 1985.

HIS WIFE, LONDON-BORN ADERONKE, 23, WHO FIDDLED #10,500,

ADMITTED ONE SPECIMEN COUNT AND ASKED FOR A FURTHER 124 OFFENCE TO BE

TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

SHE WAS GIVEN A NINE MONTHS SENTENCE SUSPENDED

FOR TWO YEARS.

IN HIS CAR THEY FOUND TEN BIRTH CERTIFICATES, NINE RENT

BOOKS, FOURTEEN UB40 BENEFIT FORMS, THREE NATIONAL SAVINGS BOOKS AND

A VARIETY OF BUILDING SOCIETY ACCOUNT BOOKS, PASSPORTS AND PENSION

BOOKS, MRS CHERYL DREW, PROSECUTING, TOLD KNIGHTSBRIDGE CROWN COURT.

AND THEY DISCOVERED MORE DOCUMENTS WHEN THEY SEARCHED THE

FLAT, SHE ADDED.

THE MONEY WAS ‘SQUANDERED’ ON DAILY LIVING AND ONLY #1,200

WAS EVER RECOVERED FROM A JOINT BANK ACCOUNT, SHE ADDED.

DURING THE HEARING SHENBANJO, WHO DENIED THE CHARGES,

CLAIMED THAT HE CONNED THE DHSS BECAUSE HIS A MAN CALLED ”JOHNNY”,

WHO TAUGHT HIM HOW TO DO THE TRICK, WAS ACTING FOR A GANG WHO

KIDNAPPED HIS YOUNG SON IN NIGERIA.

HE TOLD THE COURT THAT HE HAD TO PAY #25,000 OTHERWISE HIS

SON WOULD DIE.

BUT WHEN HE SAID HE DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY ”JOHNNY”

REPLIED: ‘I’LL TELL YOU HOW YOU CAN RAISE IT’.

HE TOLD THE COURT HE WAS ABLE TO COLLECT THE MONEY FOR THE

PRICE OF A FEW STAMPS .

AND HE USED THE DHSS LIKE A CASH MACHINE

BECAUSE THEY NEVER CHECKED BEFORE PAYING OUT.

SENTENCING HIM JUDGE PARKER, QC, DISMISSED SHENBANJO’S

EVIDENCE AS A PACK OF LIES: ‘I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING TO SAY IN YOUR

FAVOUR’, HE TOLD HIM.

‘THE JURY HAS SEEN THROUGH THE TISSUE OF LIES YOU TOLD AND I

AM NOT SURE WHETHER YOUR NAME AND ADRESS ARE THE ONLY TRUE THING YOU

HAVE TOLD THE COURT’.

SPEAKING TO MRS SHENBANJO HE SAID: ‘I AM CONSCIOUS OF THE

FACT THAT YOU ARE NOT ONLY PREGNANT BUT THAT YOU HAVE HAD A CHILD IN

CARE WHILE YOU WERE IN CUSTODY.

‘MY FEELING IS, HAVING SEEN YOUR HUSBAND, THAT HE

MANIPULATED YOU, BUT THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT YOU WERE A WILLING

PARTNER AND KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.

ALTHOUGH HE SAID YOU ASKED NO

QUESTIONS YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN WHAT WAS GOING ON’.

HE ORDERED THE COUPLE TO PAY #1,500 IN COMPENSATION TO THE

DHSS.

ENDS