Woman jailed for eight months after using false passport to obtain social housing

A woman has been sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment after a joint investigation by a local authority and a housing association established that she had used a false passport to obtain social housing.

Mary Christine Obanokho pleaded guilty at Woolwich Magistrates Court on 18 April to offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981.

She had come to the UK from Nigeria in 1996 on a six-month visitor’s visa. When the visa expired, Miss Obanokho remained in the UK rather than return to Nigeria.

The defendant subsequently purchased a British passport for £500 and used the document as identification to apply to Lewisham Council for social housing in 2004.

The passport gave her name as Christine Obanokho and stated that her date of birth was 7 November 1970. Her real date of birth was 27 May 1967.

Obanokho was then housed in temporary accommodation by Phoenix Community Housing.

In October 2011 she contacted Phoenix to say that the information was incorrect and that she needed to change the details on her tenancy agreement.

Lewisham Council’s Fraud Investigation Team and Phoenix launched a joint investigation that showed the defendant had used a false passport.

Phoenix is now taking action to recover the home.