A Somalian refugee, who admitted continuing to receive nearly £39,000 in benefits after returning to his homeland because he missed the sunshine, won the right to reverse his own plea yesterday.
Pensioner Mohamed Qoomaal, 71, had pension credit payments sent to him for two-and-a-half years and a mystery person enjoyed rent-free living in his council-funded home, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
He even forged an immigration stamp on his British passport in a failed attempt to trick investigators into accepting he had been residing in the UK, say the prosecution.
Incredibly Qoomaal, of Archery Close, Harrow continues to receive benefits, minus a £44 per-week deduction to compensate the Department of Work and Pensions.
At that rate it will take Qoomaal, who also burdens the NHS with heart and renal issues, seventeen years to repay the £38,869.97p total.
He will return to court on October 30 after Judge Jonathan Ferris reluctantly agreed to hear an application to set the guilty pleas aside and have a jury trial instead.
“If you read the pre-sentence report the dishonesty is acknowledged. The defendant accepted to the probation officer that he failed to declare a change of circumstances and dishonesty was at the heart of that discussion,” said the judge yesterday.
“It was not until I started to sentence him and he realised what I was saying about custody that there was a hiatus caused by his actions and then a contradicted basis on which he had pleaded guilty in the first place.”
Despite arriving in the this country fifteen years ago he also needed a taxpayer-funded interpreter during the court hearing.
“Why does he live here? Why is he entitled to benefits? What’s he doing here?” asked Judge Ferris during a previous hearing.
“He can’t have made much of a contribution to the pension credit he is receiving.”
Qoomaal pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances regarding Pension Credit and Housing Benefit between August 20, 2013 and February 22, 2016.
“He failed to notify the fact he was living abroad in Somalia and in order to mislead investigators he fabricated an immigration stamp in his passport,” said prosecutor Miss Lisa Matthews.
The court heard Qoomaal wanted to live in a warmer climate for health benefits and only returned to the UK when he heard he was wanted for questioning.
“He left the UK on an open ticket and did not return. He gave the keys to his privately-rented flat to a third party, who lived there while he was abroad,” added the prosecutor.
When quizzed Qoomaal tried to lie his way out of trouble, but finally confessed when his legal representative informed him the evidence was overwhelming.
He currently receives a large quantity of free prescription medication and has a series of hospital appointments with departments specialising in cardiology, dialysis and infectious diseases.
“He also has problems with his legs,” said Qoomaal’s lawyer Miss Mariska Van Leeuwen. “He had a heart attack last year and another this year and he has a vast amount of medication with him.”
Qoomaal claimed asylum on the basis he was in danger in his homeland, but this did not prevent his return trip.
“He’s just gone back there, how does that work?” asked Judge Ferris. “He came here as a refugee fifteen years ago and then goes back to Somalia to enjoy the nice weather.
“Someone was living in his flat that the public purse paid for or it was rented out.
“I don’t see why a person who took nearly thirty-nine thousand pounds and went to another country and fabricated an immigration stamp on his passport should not go to prison immediately.
“How can there have been any possible misunderstanding? What ties does he have in this country apart from the benefits system.”
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