A gas explosion which blew the roof off a house inadvertently exposed a scam by a Nigerian couple who fraudulently claimed £80,000 in benefits and funnelled the money back home to set up a string of businesses.

Mini cab driver Nura Kamara, 34, and care worker Hadiza Mohammed, 31, had their cover quite literally blown when they applied for temporary accommodation following the blast in September last year.

The explosion, started by another tenant who lived in the converted three-storey Victorian property in South Norwood, London, left five families homeless after the flats were declared unsafe.

Kamara and Mohammed approached Croydon Council's homeless unit to arrange temporary accommodation but were caught out when checks showed that housing and council tax benefit was being paid to a couple at their address but with different names.

VIA