Right to Buy fraudsters lose bid for freedom

Zaynab Hamza, aged 45, and her close friend Sabina Ahmed, 29, lied in two failed bids to buy a house in Smethwick at a reduced rate from Sandwell Council.

But they were caught out and each jailed for 20 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court in June.

Hamza, of Darlaston Road, Walsall, admitted eight counts of fraud, and Ahmed, of Trafalgar Road, Smethwick, seven.

Yesterday their lawyers appealed to top judges at the Court of Appeal for the sentences to be suspended, but saw their cases dismissed.

Mr Justice King, sitting in London today with Lord Justice Davis and Mr Justice Holroyde, said they deserved what they got for the planned fraud.

The court heard the pair made two applications to the council in 2011 and 2012 to buy a property in Thimblemill Road, Smethwick.

To satisfy the requirements of the scheme, they falsely claimed to be sisters, that Hamza had lived in the property since 2004 and that Ahmed had been there for a year.

In fact, they were only close friends and Hamza had links to numerous other homes in the Midlands and Scotland.

If their first application had been successful, they would have been able to buy the property at a £26,000 discount, whereas the second would have been almost £50,000 cheaper.

Appealing against their sentences today, lawyers for the pair argued that 20-month terms were too long.

They both also had personal mitigation which should have allowed the crown court judge to suspend the sentences and let them go free.

Both had troubled backgrounds, while Hamza was a mother-of-six and sole carer to the youngest three of her children, the court was told.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice King said: "Ultimately we find ourselves with no sympathy with any of these submissions.

"This was a serious case of fraud, seeking to cheat the Right to Buy scheme.

"It was planned, it was persistent, it was dishonest from the outset and, significantly aggravating the culpability of both, persisted into a second fraudulent application.

"It is sorry to have to record that both have, in their respective ways, sought to dilute their individual culpability - but, in truth, both well knew what they were doing."

The appeals were dismissed.

Figures today show the number of homes sold through right-to-buy was up by almost a third year-on-year in the second quarter of the year as the housing market recovery and discounts for buyers fuelled sales.

A total of 2,845 council-owned properties were sold to tenants between April and June, a 31 per cent increase on the same period of 2013. Local authorities in London accounted for 33 per cent of sales – the highest percentage since the quarterly statistics became available in 2006-07.