A migrant mother lived, worked and banked illegally in the UK for seven years after using two fake passports and a series of fake utility letters, a court heard.
Junice Tjaveondja set up a life in Britain using fake Dutch and Portuguese passports alongside false documents alleged to be from HMRC.
Other bogus letters included Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, council tax demands and energy bills.
Tjaveondja, originally from Namibia, was located and arrested following a wider investigation into a criminal gang providing illegal workers with fake documents.
Junice Tjaveondja set up a life in Britain using fake Dutch and Portuguese passports alongside false documents alleged to be from HMRC
PA
While living in the UK illegally from 2016 until 2023, the mother of three rent a £200,000 four-bedroom house in Leigh, Greater Manchester.
She also opened two bank accounts and found employment as a care worker at two nursing homes through agencies.
The court heard she been refused the right to stay in the UK twice after appealing to the Home Office in 2018.
Tjaveondja pleaded guilty to five charges of fraud and 12 of possessing an article in use of a fraud.
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She has been jailed for six months and is currently appealing for a third time to remain in Britain.
Antony Longworth, for the prosecution, told the hearing that while she “had no permission to work in this country” she had been “supplied with the use of false documentation to create false identities to obtain employment and therefore payment”.
He said: “This was originally identified as part of a larger national investigation into the use of forged and false documentation by organised crime groups to facilitate individuals’ ability to work in this country.
“There is nothing to suggest that the defendant is anything other than a peripheral member of such a group which instructed her in the use of false documentation.”
Tjaveondja, originally from Namibia, was located and arrested following a wider investigation into a criminal gang providing illegal workers with fake documents
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The court heard that a number of items in the name of Grace Collander were seized as well as documents found in the name of Junice Antonio.
Nicholas Clarke, for the defence, said: “She did not have the sophistication or the connections to make those false documents for herself.
“Both in her own country and in this country, she has come across people who have exploited her for their own ends. While working unlawfully the beneficiaries who are not in this court were receiving the salary.
“She does accept full responsibility and offers genuine remorse. That work she has done and money that she received will not assist her in her application to remain in this country.’”
