Fraudster jailed for six years over Grenfell fire lies
A BURGLAR who avoided prison by claiming he lived in fireravaged Grenfell Tower was finally jailed for six years yesterday.
After the June 14 blaze last year Derrick Peters was put up in the Park Grand hotel, Paddington, west London, after claiming his friend died in the blaze and all his possessions were destroyed.
The 58-year-old ran up a £40,000 bill for the £192-a-night room, food, drink and laundry.
While staying there, Peters was arrested for burgling a nearby flat and making off with a £3,000 haul that included jewellery.
Kensington and Chelsea council even kept paying for his room for two months while he was on remand in Wandsworth prison.
Pretence
He returned to the hotel having been handed a community order after repeating his Grenfell lies to the judge sentencing him at Isleworth Crown Court.
The judge said: “How on earth can one even begin to understand what it is like to lose a friend in a tragedy like Grenfell?”
Peters continued the pretence and was even offered a flat meant for genuine victims of the disaster that left 72 people dead.
However, his story unravelled after Rebecca Ross, a Grenfell survivor whose father died in the fire, confirmed Peters had never lived with them as claimed.
Peters pleaded guilty to perverting the court of justice and two counts of fraud at Isleworth Crown Court and was sentenced to six years.
He was also re-sentenced the original burglary charge.
Judge Robin Johnson told Peters he was sure he had been previously spared jail because of his “brazen lie” to the judge.
“It was designed to pull heart strings. It succeeded, just as the similar lies were providing you with hotel accommodation and money,” he said.
“Your conduct from June last year was utterly disgraceful. You cheated and lied for your own ends, trading on others’ misery.”
The judge said Peters’ crimes had reached “such depths as any for right-minded member of the public would find repulsive”.
The court heard Peters has 40 convictions for 90 offences, including 24 for fraud and 73 for theft.
He is the sixth person to be sentenced for fraud relating to the Grenfell fire and received the longest prison term yet.
In a statement read in court, Edward Daffarn, a member of the Grenfell United survivors group, said he was left “sickened” by what Peters had done.
“It is upsetting beyond words to learn the tragedy of Grenfell Tower is being used by individuals so that they can exploit our misery for their own gain,” he said. “It is pouring salt on the wounds of the bereaved.”