Grenfell fraudster, Anh Nhu Nguyen, who pretended his family died in the Grenfell Tower fire to obtain £12,500 meant for the victims has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.
The conman claimed his wife and son were killed in the June 14 disaster for almost two weeks and was compensated by charities and the Kensington and Chelsea Council.
As part of his deceit, Nguyen spun a cruel tale to family liaison officers, describing in detail how he lost sight of his family in the smoke-clogged stairwell, police said.
But while a major recovery operation was under way on June 15th, the fraudster was actually nine miles away at a housing charity, according to prosecutors.
The 52 year old pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in November to two counts of fraud by false representation and one count of making an untrue statement for the purpose of obtaining a passport.
Sentencing was originally adjourned until December by Judge Philip Bartle to allow a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report to be compiled.
However, at a hearing shortly before Christmas, Southwark Crown Court heard there had been a ‘failure’ by probation services to make contact with the defendant and provide a report.
Nguyen was born in Vietnam and has been in the UK since the 1980s. He is a British citizen and has 17 aliases.
The conman has 28 previous convictions for 56 offences spanning more than 30 years, including theft, dishonesty offences, arson and grievous bodily harm.
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