GUILTY, FRAUDSTER WHO TOOK £100K VICTIMS’ AID

A CONMAN who pretended to be a Grenfell Tower survivor to claim more than £100,000 in public aid has admitted fraud.

Sharife Elouahabi’s deception is the biggest fraud linked to the tragedy to come before the courts so far.

The 38-year-old, right, claimed he lived on the 21st floor with a family of five who died in the blaze, which engulfed the west London tower in June last year, killing 72. He was given £103,475 for luxury hotel accommodation and living expenses for a year before his scam was discovered. Elouahabi was due to receive resettlement payments worth a further £14,730 to go towards a flat and utility bills, but he was arrested before the payments were made. Detectives discovered he lived 5km from Grenfell Tower and had no links to the block’s former residents.

Elouahabi pleaded guilty to fraud at Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Monday and will be sentenced later this month. Detective Constable Ben Rouse, who led the investigation, said: ‘This was a substantial fraud, made all the more deplorable by the fact that it was committed in the immediate aftermath of the fire, with the money set aside to help those directly affected by the tragedy.

‘Elouahabi shamelessly took advantage of efforts to rehouse people whose homes had been destroyed by claiming his link to one of the flats.

‘This is the latest in what is sadly a long line of Grenfellrelated frauds.’