The low-life fraudsters who took advantage of Grenfell fire tragedy

A damning report into the Grenfell Inquiry has delivered its findings seven years after a tower block inferno claimed the lives of 72 people.

An exhaustive public inquiry has reported on the lapses and mistakes that turned a small fire in an apartment kitchen into the deadliest blaze on British soil since World War II.

Inquiry chairperson Martin Moore-Bick, a retired judge, has started to deliver the findings today (September 4) from a six-year investigation that examined how building flaws, lax enforcement of safety standards and mistakes by emergency responders contributed to the shocking death toll in the Grenfell Tower blaze.

But in the immediate aftermath of the blaze, when the nation and families were still mourning, more than a dozen unscrupulous individuals tried to falsely claim they had been affected by the disaster for their own gain.

Here Express.co.uk looks at the shameful list of crooks prosecuted for their crimes in the wake of Grenfell.

Follow our Express.co.uk LIVE coverage of the Grenfell Inquiry today

Derrick Peters

Peters was convicted and jailed for six years in August 2018. The 58-year-old lied to judge and Kensington and Chelsea council saying he had been living with a friend who was killed in the Grenfell fire.

He claimed the blaze had affected his mental state and he was accommodated at Kensington's Park Grand Hotel for six months at the cost of £40,000.

Peters committed a burglary while staying at the hotel. However, he was eventually found out when officials discovered the flat number he said he was staying at in Grenfell did not exist. There was also no record of him on CCTV.

Yonatan Eyob

Eyob racked up an £86,000 bill while he dealt cocaine from the hotel room after he told the council he had been living at flat 182 of the west London tower block on the night the blaze

He was jailed for six years and eight months in 2018.

Jenny McDonagh

McDonagh was a finance manager at Kensington and Chelsea council when she stole £62,000 from a fund set up for the victims of the Grenfell fire.

Thoughtless McDonagh used the money taken over a 10-month period for holidays in Dubai and Los Angeles and spent around half the money on gambling.

She was jailed for five and a half years after pleading guilty to fraud, theft and concealing criminal property.

Mohammed Syed Rinku

Syed Rinku was given a 18-month sentence after he claimed to have lived in Grenfell and claimed more than £5,000 while saying he was in a relationship with someone from the tower block.

The illegal immigrant also applied for leave to remain in the UK under the Grenfell Survivors Immigration Policy.

Anh Nhu Nguyen

Serial conman Nguyen was jailed for 21 months in 2018 for pretending both his wife and son died in the Grenfell inferno.

Anh Nhu Nguyen, 53, from Beckenham, claimed his wife and son were killed in the blaze in order to falsely about £12,500 from funds meant for victims.

During the commemorations the brazen conman even met Prince Charles as he posed as a survivor of the tragedy. Kim Taylor-Smith, deputy leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, described Nguyen's actions as "crass beyond words".

Abdelkarim Rekaya

A judge told Rekaya he had chosend to "exploit a national tragedy" after he was found to have fraudulently obtained nearly £90,000 by pretending to be a victim of the Grenfell blaze.

Rekaya, 28, who was jailed for four and half years in 2018, spent 209 nights in a four-star hotel, before being provided with a flat in Chelsea.

At Isleworth Crown Court, the Tunisian national listened to his sentence through an Arabic interpreter. Judge Giles Curtis-Raleigh told him: "You chose to exploit a national tragedy to improve your position."

Elaine Douglas and Tommy Brooks

Douglas and Brooks were Jamaican nationals living in the UK who claimed to have been staying with friends when a flat they claimed to live in on the 19th floor was engulfed by the blaze.

Douglas, 51, was jailed for three years and Brooks, 52, was jailed for three years and three months after officials discovered the flats did not exist.

Douglas had the cheek to complain about the food she was served while staying at a hotel at a cost of just over £55,000. Brooks racked up a stay worth more than £49,000.

Koffi Kouakou

The 53-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison after he claimed he was in a relationship with a woman who he shared a flat with who died in the blaze.

According to the Met Police, accommodating Kouakou in the hotel and flat cost in excess of £30,000 before officials discovered he had been lying about the woman and the flat.

Joyce Msokeri

A woman described as "callous and disgusting" by a judge was jailed for four and a half years after she claimed to have lost he home and her husband.

Joyce Msokeri, 47, filled a room at Kensington's Hilton hotel with donations from well-wishers after she claimed to have been made a widow.

But officials found data from her phone revealed she had never used it near the Grenfell site. Sentencing her, Judge Michael Grieve QC said her offences were "callous and contemptible, indeed disgusting".

He added: "Your greed in taking advantage of the situation you had created was insatiable."

Antonio Gouveia

Portuguese national Gouveia's made up story was that he was living in the flat of an elderly woman on the night of the June 14 tragedy in 2017.

He was not, but went on steal £53,000 in relief funds staying at a £155-a-night hotel in Marylebone for 289 days where he took food and cash handouts.

The 33-year-old was jailed for three years and two months.

Sharife Elouahabi

A sick fraudster claimed more than £100,000 meant for victims of the Grenfell fire when he lied that he was staying with relatives in a flat on the 21st floor where a family of five perished in the blaze.

Elouahabi was jailed for six years in 2018.

Elouahabi made fraudulent claims of about £103,000 for financial assistance and accommodation between 23 June 2017 and 25 June this year, a court heard.

Alvin Thompson

Alvin Thompson, 51, defrauded the local council out of more than £90,000 after he claimed he helped survivors escape from the Grenfell tower where he claimed he had been sleeping rough.

Brazen Thompson even asked to be diagnosed with PTSD before his deception was discovered and he was jailed for five and a half years.