Grenfell Tower fire: Nine new arrests over fraud allegations

Eight men and a woman were detained by officers across London on June 7 as more cases arise following the blaze last June.

A woman from Sutton and a man from Croydon have already been jailed after they lied so they could obtain such things as cash and accommodation.

Detective Superintendent Matt Bonner, the Met’s senior investigating officer into the Grenfell Tower fire, said: “It is completely unacceptable that people would seek to profit from such a human tragedy, and try and attach themselves to a community that they are not a part of.

“Over the last 12 months I have met all the families whose loved ones died; many of the survivors and members of the local community from Grenfell.”

Mohammad Gamoota. Photo: Metropolitan Police

Mohammad Gamoota was jailed for 18 months on June 1 after he falsely claimed his dad had died in the fire.

The 31-year-old, then of Leafy Way in Croydon, made internet searches using the words, “Grenfell Tower fraud”, before he was caught.

Suspicions were raised when he was seen collecting emergency relief money from a post office last October.

Kate Mulholland, of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “People who are moved to give money to charity expect it to reach the real victims, especially in such a tragedy as the Grenfell Tower fire which took so many lives and affected so many people.

“When someone sets out to lie to access that money it is only right that justice is done and seen to be done.

“When suspicions were aroused and he knew he could not keep up his lie, Gamoota disappeared but the prosecution was able to link him back to the fraud.”

Joyce Msokeri. Photo: Metropolitan Police / PA Wire

Earlier this year, Joyce Moskeri was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after she invented a fake husband who she claimed died in the fire.

The 47-year-old posed as a resident at the time of the fire on June 14 last year, despite living miles away at an address in Ambleside Gardens, Sutton.

She tried to claim, food, clothing, money, and accommodation in a Hilton hotel in Kensington where she stayed for nearly two months.

At the time of her sentencing on April 6, the Crown Prosecution Service’s Kate Mulholland said: “Msokeri’s offences were not just about money but involved the exploitation of extremely vulnerable people, as well as the breach of trust of survivors, donors and relief workers.

“She also claimed her supposed husband had not died in the fire as she first thought, but had been living in a cave.

“This was all to satisfy her greed and she will now have to face the consequences of her dishonesty.”

Police say all the offences linked with people who have fraudulently benefited through housing or allowances, by claiming to be victims of the fire, could be up to £100,000.