A man and a woman, both Jamaicans, who illegally claimed more than £125,000 in relief funding by posing as victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London, England were each sentenced to at least three years in prison on Friday.
Elaine Douglas and Tommy Brooks got themselves put up in hotels by Kensington and Chelsea council for almost a year before it was realised that where they claimed to have been living at the time of the fire did not exist.
The pair, who had been living in the UK illegally for 16 years, in May each pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and one count of obtaining leave to remain in the UK by deception.
On Friday, Douglas was sentenced to three years in prison while Brooks was sentenced to three years and three months behind bars.
They reportedly claimed to have been together in flat 91 on the 19th floor of the tower at the time of the horror fire. But unknown to them, flat 91 is actually on the 12th floor of the tower.
Reports in court included an outline that the pair had managed to avoid immigration authorities in the UK for 16 years after entering the country illegally in the early 2000s.
A total of 72 persons died in the fire at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in North Kensington in June of last year.
