Immigrant mother from Dudley in £70k benefit fraud
A Gambian woman who came to this country under a false name on a six month visitor's visa is still here over 20 years later - and has illegally pocketed more than £70,000 worth of benefits, a judge heard.
Ramou Jarjusey called herself Ndow Rohey Njie and arrived in 1996 without permission to work or claim state benefits during the proposed short term stay.
Nine years later she started claiming working tax credit using the name of Rohey Ndow Njie, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
She also collected child tax credit. She reportedly has a grown up child living in Gambia and has given birth to two others since her arrival in England. They are now aged 12 and eight and go to school here.Jarjusey created a web of deceit using different names and four dates of birth - with a 13 year age span - and illegally collected £70,696 of benefits from October 12 2005 to April 5 2015.
Miss Caroline Harris, prosecuting, said: "She has never been entitled to claim benefits because of her lack of truth about identity and immigration status."
Tax credit paid to the defendant under the name of Njie was terminated on April 5 2015 after officials received information that the person had moved to Denmark. Three months later , on July 14, she applied for the same benefits using her proper name and was given a new National Insurance number.
Jarjusey, now 54 years old, also had an asylum application rejected but, probably because of the children, was granted conditional leave to remain and work in this country until November when she faces deportation. She was arrested in February 13 this year and initially denied the fraud but on May 2 told investigators: 'I want to confess.'
Mr Henry Skudra, defending, saidconceded: "Given the complexity of the asylum proceedings she is not entirely sure of the chronology."
Jarjusey, who liveswith her children in The Farthings, Dudley, is working but details remain unclear.
She pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining tax credit and was told by Recorder Peter Ievins: "The system of control to cope with the number of people wanting to come to this country only works if people tell the truth and I am afraid you did not. You worked in this country without permission and applied for benefits that you were not entitled to because you should not have been here and should not have been working."
She was not immediately jailed because of the impact on her children and received a 16 month prison sentence suspended for two years with a three month night time curfew. She was also ordered told to pay a nominal £1,000 compensation at £250-a-month while the Home Office decide if she should be deported in November.
