Illegal immigrant benefits fraudster keeps Chelsea flat

Staying put … Joy Chishimba and her block of flats

AN illegal immigrant who fiddled more than £30,000 in benefits cannot be kicked out of the country — because of human rights laws.

And amazingly, a series of rulings means single mother Joy Chishimba can not onlySTAY in her council flat in London’s fashionable Chelsea but CONTINUEclaiming benefits.
Chishimba, 26, entered Britain from Zambia on a student visa. In 2009 she fell pregnant, bought a fake UK passport for £1,000 and used it to get the flat and handouts. When she was eventually rumbled she admitted fraudulently claiming £30,000 in housing benefit and £4,000 in income support.
She was given a suspended ten-month jail sentence.
But her lawyers claimed separating her from her UK-born daughter would breach article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1988 that guarantees the right to a family life.

Chelsea … block of flats

So a judge let her remain in the UK until at least 2014 — and as a result she can now claim benefits legally.
Kensington and Chelsea Council, which has 8,000 people on its homes waiting list, tried to evict her, saying she made herself “intentionally homeless” by committing the fraud.

Trendy … she lives off famous road

But she complained she would be left wandering the streets and won a review.
Chishimba claims she only turned to crime out of desperation when her ex-boyfriend kicked her out. She said: “I just didn’t wake up one day and decide to do this. I had to protect my daughter.”
The UK Border Agency said there would be new legislation by the summer and added: “Public interest in removal should outweigh the migrant’s right to family life.”