A woman who stole a dead mother’s identity to trick her way into Britain has been jailed for impersonation.
Illegal immigrant Catherine Kyie, 33, got into the United Kingdom, and then defrauded taxpayers out of more than £100,000.
A court heard mother-of-three Kyie then claimed family tax credits, child benefit payments and was paid by the NHS over eight years.
The couple and their three children lived in Britain claiming state benefits and child tax credits.
But Cardiff Crown Court heard they were finally rumbled when relatives of the dead mother’s 10-year-old son wanted him to come to the country.
Mr Griffiths said, ‘He was unable to travel because it was discovered his passport had been renewed in 2009 by Boateng and a woman claiming to be his mother – although she had been dead for five or six years.
‘That passport was eventually found at their home.
‘Police also discovered a Dutch identity card and a passport in the name of Joyce Pokuaa but showing Kyie’s photograph.’
The court heard two of the couple’s three children, aged five, seven and 10, were born in the UK.
The ID fraud family lived illegally in Newport, South Wales, for eight years before they were caught.
Kyie worked illegally as a cleaner in NHS hospitals and universities, while Boateng worked as a driver and late night security guard.
Claire Pickthall, defending Kyie, said: ‘It is a serious offence and she accepts her motivation was gain. ‘But the gain was only to come to the UK to have a better life for herself and her family – nothing more sinister than that.
‘She has worked hard all the time she has been here. The mother of three was arrested along with Boateng who at first claimed he had been duped and thought his wife’s name was Joyce.
But the couple eventually pleaded guilty to 14 charges of fraud by misrepresentation to enter and remain in the UK illegally.
Judge Patrick Murphy told Kyie she was the ‘prime mover’ in the fraud.
He said: ‘You obtained benefits through employment and tax benefits to the cost of £104,562. The commission of all your offences is based on the identity theft of Joyce Pokuaa by you.’
Judge Murphy said Kyie began stealing the dead mother’s identity documents in 2004 – just months after she gave birth to a son and died in Ghana following childbirth complications.
He told the pair it was now their children who had become the innocent victims. Judge Murphy told them: ‘You took the chance – they will pay the price.
‘Possession and use of false identity documents are serious offences and go to the heart of undermining the immigration processes of this country.
