A postgraduate biomedical student already serving eight-years for an unrelated offence of stalking a judge has today been jailed for a further three years for housing benefit fraud.

Javed Shaikh, 44, admitted seven counts of fraud after claiming £313,043 from 32 councils across England. 

Between 2015 and 2022, Shaikh made 51 successful benefit applications using the names and personal details of nine real people without their knowledge. He also claimed money he was not entitled to under his own name.

The councils which paid Shaikh the most money were: Barnet (£44,471), Brent (£41,244), Islington (£28,242), Lambeth (£25,312), Hackney (£24,715), Ealing, (£24,362), and Colchester (£22,806) accounting for £211,152 or 67% of the total.

Shaikh used fake supporting documents such as birth certificates, tenancy agreements, benefit letters and bank statements when making the claims.

The money was paid into a number of bank accounts controlled by Shaikh. Some of the key prosecution evidence included £13,500 in cash found in the backpack he was carrying when arrested in 2022. He also had three bank cards in different names. A safety deposit box held in his name was also searched in 2024 and contained £200,000 in cash.

He was charged with fraud by false representation by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following an investigation by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

At Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court on 17 August, Shaikh pleaded guilty to all seven counts of fraud by false representation.

Rose-Marie Franton from the Crown Prosecution Service said: 

“Javed Shaikh hijacked the identities of real people so he could cheat taxpayers out of money intended for those who really needed it to pay their rent. His fraud extended to 32 councils over a seven-year period and scammed them out of £313,000. 

“Thanks to the hard work of DWP investigators, the applications and money was traced back to Shaikh.

“The CPS will now take him back to court to begin confiscation proceedings and recover the money that Shaikh stole.”

Prosecution evidence included cashpoint CCTV footage of Shaikh withdrawing money from accounts into which housing benefit had been paid. His mobile phone and laptop also had documents which had been submitted in support of the fraudulent applications.

The prosecution argued that the applications were clearly false because Shaikh reused names and aspects of personal details to make applications to different local authorities at around the same time. The individuals could not genuinely have had a tenancy in one area at the same time as having a tenancy in another.