Student accused of £5,500 Grenfell fire fraud
A BUSINESS student accused of claiming his father died in the Grenfell Tower blaze to get £5,500 and a free stay in a hotel appeared in court yesterday.
Muhammad Gamoota, 31, said he lived on the top floor of the 24-storey block with his father Abdul Salam, prosecutors allege.
In the aftermath of the inferno, he claimed he survived because he was attending midnight prayers at a mosque, it was said. Gamoota was arrested in October after police allegedly discovered that his father was alive and lived overseas.
Yesterday he appeared before magistrates counts of fraud charged in the aftermath with two of the disaster in West London which killed 71 residents last June.
The business management student, who lives in a flat in Westminster with his mother, allegedly presented himself as a survivor to volunteers offering emergency aid.
He was given £500 and a free room at a Holiday Inn in Kensington for a week, Westminster magistrates in the United heard. Arab Emirates, Gamoota, allegedly born tried to claim a further £5,000 but a technical hitch with his bank meant the money was not paid. He was later offered a room in a Radisson Blu hotel in West London but decided not to take up this offer, it was said.
Prosecutor Ciaran Cronin said: ‘In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, in the days shortly after, the defendant presented himself at the Westway Centre, a centre set up for survivors to get emergency support.
‘It was set up so people who had been in the building and survived could get assistance. The Crown say he applied for this money and made a false representation to make a gain for himself.’
Wearing a black Puffa jacket, a white shirt and grey trousers, Gamoota stood with his hands in his pockets as he denied two counts of fraud by means of false representation between June 14 and July 29 last year.
He was remanded in custody to appear at Southwark Crown Court on May 16 for a preliminary hearing as three members of his family watched the case from the public gallery.
A member of the public was confronted by a security guard during the hearing after using his phone to take pictures of Gamoota while he was in the dock.
The man, wearing a black tank top, was led outside and ordered to delete the pictures.
It is against the law to take photographs in a courtroom without authorisation. The man was brought before the magistrates and warned never to do it again.
‘Went to centre set up for survivors’