Fraudster pocketed £10k by posing as victim, court told
A MAN netted nearly £10,000 after pretending his wife and 12-yearold son died in the tower blaze, a court heard yesterday.
Anh Nhu Nguyen, 52, is accused of telling the authorities he lost his family and all his ‘worldly possessions’.
He claimed to have lived on the 15th floor of Grenfell Tower for 20 years and told Sky News how he had climbed over dead bodies to escape. But police grew suspicious when they could find no record of him ever being a resident.
It is claimed he swindled a council and charities out of cash, clothing, food and electronic goods in the chaotic aftermath.
Nguyen was arrested on Wednesday in a Holiday Inn hotel where he has already racked up a bill of almost £2,000. He appeared before Westminster magistrates in a grey police-issue tracksuit top and black trousers, and made no comment as he held his arms behind his back.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay said Nguyen went to a relief centre on June 18, four days after the inferno. ‘He said he lost his wife, his child and all of his worldly possessions. He was given £100 in cash,’ he said.
‘He attended the following day, repeated that claim and was given £260. He was then given accommodation at the Holiday Inn.’ On June 21, Nguyen returned to apply for £5,000 funded by the Government and was seen by police who were treating him as a victim.
‘It was when they spoke to him in more detail, we say, this fraud unravelled,’ said Mr Polnay.
‘Having regard to the sums involved, we respectfully submit it’s a figure approaching £10,000.
‘In addition, he was also given food and clothing in quite large amounts by charities.’ Nguyen, who is unemployed and originally from Vietnam, moved to the UK in 1980. The court heard that he had been living in Beckenham, South London, 14 miles away from the scene of the disaster.
Nguyen is charged with two counts of fraud by false representation.
District Judge Tan Ikram remanded him in custody to appear at Southwark Crown Court on July 28.