Defendant jailed for five years after defrauding council of nearly £32k through Grenfell subletting claim

A man who claimed to be a Grenfell Tower resident who was in hospital recovering from surgery when he was actually in prison at the time, has been convicted of fraud and jailed.

Sheffick Brimer, 50, presented himself to volunteers at the Westway Community Centre nearly a month after the fire.

After telling housing officers and volunteers he had been subletting a flat inside the tower since November 2016, he was able to claim free accommodation for 125 nights at four-star hotels with a food allowance.

Between 18 July 2017 and 11 December 2017 he stayed at both the Park Plaza County Hall hotel and Park Grand Paddington hotel in central London.

He defrauded Kensington and Chelsea Council out of a total of £31,776.59.

Last week (20 March) he was convicted of one count of fraud following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court and sentenced to five years in custody.

The CPS said suspicions arose around Brimer’s story when the flat number he claimed to live in did not match the floor number he claimed to live on. Residents and family members of deceased residents had not heard of him before. He was also believed to have filled out a housing form stating his address as ‘Glenfell’.

Kate Mulholland, from the CPS, said: “By presenting himself as a resident, Brimer was given emergency accommodation that was meant to be for the true survivors of the fire. He had no residential links to Grenfell Tower, yet he manipulated the situation and generosity of others to claim accommodation and expenses worth thousands of pounds.

“At first he claimed to have been recovering from surgery around the time of the fire but later went on to admit that he might have been in prison. Brimer will now have to face the consequences of his actions.”