Fraudster who used fake passport to leapfrog to front of council house queue is jailed

Christopher Aghalibe used the £50 forgery to live in the rented property for 12 years before he was found out. 

The deception cost the public purse more than £112,000, a court heard.

Using a false UK passport in the name of Kehinde Osula, Nigerian-born Aghalibe moved into the house in Dagenham, east London, in 2004. 

He gave the game away last August when fraud prevention officers called to interview him.

Aghalibe invited them in for a cup of tea but could not find his British passport.

So he gave them a Nigerian one instead, London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

The former bus driver made matters worse when he later turned up at the council offices with a copy of the forged British passport.

Aghalibe, 63, was found guilty of using a false instrument, obtaining services by deception and possession of a false identity document with improper intention.

Jailing the fraudster at a hearing last Friday Judge Alan Greenwood said: “People can wait for as long as 10 years for social housing.

“Someone else would have been deprived and that is very much a factor that needs to be borne in mind.”

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Aghalibe claimed he came to London in 1990 but he often returned to his homeland to visit his sick father before his death.

Judge Greenwood said: “You were in this country lawfully, that much is true.

“But you used that false passport to gain benefit while you were inside the country.

“You used that passport to travel. You used it to cross borders.

“I have been given a figure and every year it can amount to as much as £9,395.

“And so over a period of years it is quite a substantial loss to the public purse caused by your fraudulent use of that passport.”

Nick Ham, prosecuting, earlier told the court how Aghalibe was caught out during the visit by fraud prevention officers. 

“He was not able to provide a British passport, instead he handed over a Nigerian one. 

"He was asked briefly to explain the discrepancy and he could not.”

Mr Ham added: “He then came to the interview and handed over a British passport. 

"The prosecution say that he was trying to fool the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.’

Andreas O’Shea, defending, said Aghalibe would have been able to apply for social housing if he had been granted indefinite leave to remain. 

Mr O’Shea said: “The victims, of course, are those who do not get the housing."

Aghalibe needed a British passport to travel out of the country to deal with “family difficulties,” his lawyer said.

The application for a council house came a year later, the court heard.

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