Cleaner posing as Grenfell victim admits £53k fraud

A PORTUGUESE cleaner posed as a Grenfell victim to stay for over nine months in a £155-a-night hotel, a court heard yesterday.

Antonio Gouveia claimed for 289 days at the hotel, and took cash handouts and food allowances by pretending to have lived in the tower where 72 residents died on June 14 last year.

The 33-year-old told authorities he lived in a flat where an elderly woman lived, but she had never heard of him. Gouveia received cash and £44,795 in accommodation while being neither a survivor nor a bereaved family member himself, as his fraud totalled in excess of £53,000.

He also went to the Rugby Portobello Trust charity set up in the wake of the tragedy to claim a laptop intended for the victims of the fire after intercepting the genuine resident’s post. He pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation between June 20 last year and April 5, 2018, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being arrested on Thursday.

Henry Fitch, prosecuting, told the court Gouveia claimed £260 cash in a one-off payment and food allowances.

He said: “He posed as a resident of Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire last July. He told the authorities that he was a resident of Grenfell Tower and was there on the night in question.

Gouveia has one previous conviction for shop lifting in 2011. He was sofa surfing when he committed the offences.

Senior District Judge Tan Ikram refused bail and remanded him in custody ahead of sentencing on August 31.