Judge adjourned punishment so she could finish final year exams
A law student who illegally sublet her London flat while she was studying at the University of West England has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 130 hours community service.
Kusheema Nurse was given a council flat in August 2010, but did not tell her local council she’d moved out of her home to pursue a law degree in the West Country from September 2011, Harrow Crown Court heard.
Instead, she illegally sublet the property. The whole thing came to light when Nurse’s subtenant contacted the local council in the summer of 2014 to complain about being evicted without notice, and informed them he’d been renting the one bedroom flat for three years.
According to local media reports, Nurse, 26, did not comment when questioned about the flat, and was then charged with offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013. She pleaded not guilty and told Harrow Crown Court she’d commuted 120 miles to Bristol everyday and continued to live in her flat in Brent, London.
The jury wasn’t convinced. She was found guilty and sentenced to community service. However, the judge — perhaps feeling nostalgic about the horror of final year law exams — decided to adjourn her punishment for three months so she could concentrate on completing her degree. We wonder how she did in land law.