Despicable conman who met Charles got £12k over lie that family died in Grenfell inferno
A CONMAN who was comforted by Prince Charles when he pretended his family died in the Grenfell Tower fire was facing jail yesterday after admitting pocketing £12,500 in the scam. ‘Despicable’ Anh Nhu Nguyen was pictured shaking the Prince’s hand.
He rushed to be seen at Charles’s side when the Prince paid an unannounced visit in the days after the disaster to a memorial wall close to the tower.
The Vietnamese immigrant, 52, spun an elaborate tale, giving emotional interviews to police, TV cameras and onlookers about how he lost sight of his wife and son in a smoke-clogged stairwell.
But, after pocketing £12,500 meant for victims, it emerged that he was a convicted fraudster with 17 aliases who was living on the other side of London during the disaster – where he was captured on CCTV appearing happy in the aftermath of the blaze which claimed 80 lives and left scores homeless on June 14.
For two weeks, Nguyen continued his charade, claiming that he had lost all his worldly possessions in order to receive cash handouts, accommodation and clothing from charities and Kensington and Chelsea Council, before police found a series of holes in his tearful account.
Yesterday he pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to two counts of fraud by false representation and one count of making an untrue statement for the purpose of obtaining a passport.
It emerged that he has 28 previous convictions for 56 offences spanning more than 30 years, raising questions about why Nguyen had not been kicked out of Britain earlier.
Born in Vietnam, he came here during the 1980s, where he racked up convictions for theft, dishonesty, arson, harassment and grievous bodily harm between 1983 and 2015. But, despite frequent court appearances, prosecutors say it is still unclear whether he is a British citizen. At the time of the Grenfell fire, he was subject to a conditional discharge for a theft.
He visited Westway Sports Centre – where efforts to assist those who lost their homes were concentrated – four days after the blaze. The council put him up in a Holiday Inn while Nguyen continued to pester charities for clothes, food and electrical equipment. He claimed he had lived on the 15th floor of the block for 20 years and said that he had been making a cup of tea when the fire started.
Recounting his supposed escape, he told Sky News: ‘The smoke was like fog. You couldn’t see anything, it was very hot.’ Nguyen described climbing over dead bodies, saying: ‘I’m sad, I’m angry, I cry. It’s terri- ble for everyone who lost family that day.’
After the fire, he claimed he spent two nights at the Westway centre on the floor with only a sheet and no mattress. He said he had lost his passport in the fire.
Police only discovered his lies when he gave several different flat numbers, some of which did not exist. One address he gave belonged to a real victim, whose son was extremely distressed when police questioned him about Nguyen’s account. It later emerged he was living in Beckenham.
He told police he had been treated at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington for smoke inhalation – but no record of his visit was found. Officers later recovered CCTV showing the ‘happy and light-hearted’ conman nine miles away the day after the fire.
In a previous hearing, prosecutor Jonathan Polnay outlined how Nguyen returned day after day for more hand-outs. ‘He said he lost his wife, child and all his worldly possessions – he was given £100
‘It is terrible for everyone’ ‘Willing to lie and lie again’
cash and signed for it on that basis. He attended the following day and was given £260, then given accommodation at Holiday Inn Express.
‘On June 21 he applied for £5,000 and gave his address as flat 18 Grenfell Tower, but there is no flat 17 or 18. Police officers were assigned to him because he was a victim of a serious matter. It was when he was spoken to in detail that this fraud was unravelled.’
Yesterday Nguyen showed no emotion as he entered his pleas through a translator.
Judge Philip Bartle, QC, said his offences were ‘despicable’.
‘He received monies or goods to the value of £12,500 – money which would otherwise have gone to the people who were genuinely affected by this terrible tragedy,’ the judge said in an earlier hearing.
Kate Mulholland of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘He was willing to lie again and again.
‘The selfishness and manipulation Nguyen showed has horrified those whose job it is to help the true victims of Grenfell Tower.’
Scotland Yard is investigating a series of other apparently fraudulent attempts to claim money following the Grenfell tragedy.
Nguyen will be sentenced on December 15.