‘Grenfell fire fraudster crammed Hilton hotel room with free clothes’

A WOMAN who posed as a Grenfell Tower survivor and falsely claimed to have lost her husband in the tragedy was put up at the Hilton and crammed her room with clothes meant for genuine victims, a court heard yesterday.

Joyce Msokeri lived miles away from where the tower block blaze killed 71 people in West London last June.

She is accused of feigning trauma to get hundreds of pounds in cash handouts as well as food, clothing, electronic devices and free accommodation. The wheelchair-bound divorcee exploited the ‘chaotic’ aftermath of the disaster to help herself to so many clothes from trusting charities and volunteers that she ran out of space in her free hotel room and had to pile up suitcases in the concierge’s room, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Msokeri, 47, is said to have initially posed as her sister to report herself missing. But she couldn’t even remember the number of the flat where she claimed she lived in the tower, it was said.

The defendant claimed to have spent the day after the blaze in a state of trauma. But jurors heard that the morning after the tragedy, Msokeri had actually been on the phone to Sky TV complaining about the bad signal at her home in Sutton, South London.

Msokeri persuaded a Grenfell volunteer who had cancer to corroborate her story and, when she backed out, pretended her husband had miraculously been found, the court was told.

David Jeremy QC, prosecuting, said Msokeri’s ‘calculated’ plan began when she arrived at the heart of the relief effort the day after the blaze. She lied to council officials about being married to a man she said she had lived with at Grenfell Tower, it was said. ‘She was showered with the help and support of the various agencies and volunteers,’ Mr Jeremy said. ‘Miss Msokeri was able to carry out this deceit because she was a very good actress and able to feign trauma convincingly.’

She was provided with a dedicated social worker for support along with personal police family liaison officers, cash and a free taxi service, he said. Within days she was put up at the Hilton hotel in Kensington, West London. Msokeri was also allowed access to the clothes and other goods that had been provided by wellwishers and businesses.

Mr Jeremy said: ‘She helped herself to so many of the clothes that her room at the Hilton became full to bursting. She took the opportunity to grab anything she could.’

He said Msokeri brought about her own downfall ‘by being too greedy’. Mr Jeremy said: ‘She realised that she would have to make good her story that she had lost her husband in the fire in order to obtain the really large amounts of cash that would be available as compensation.’

Msokeri is said to have persuaded the woman suffering from cancer to falsely identify a man shown in Sky News footage who later died as her husband. But the woman admitted to police she had lied. Msokeri was arrested for fraud in July and bailed on condition she did not return to the Hilton. Hours later she was back at the hotel and was re-arrested.

Msokeri then allegedly tried to coerce her vulnerable former partner into pretending he was her missing husband who had been found. He reported her to police and she was arrested again.

Msokeri denies three counts of fraud and one of possessing an identity document with improper intention. The trial continues.