I recently posted alluding to the fact that prior to getting Leave to Remain I had previously used a friend's identity to secure employment in the UK. There is now a twist to the story.
Yesterday morning around 9.20am four Police Officers from the City of London came to our house to arrest me. They said they were arresting me in connecting with my previous job where I had used a friend's passport to work. They spent 2 hours ransacking our house and took away my two mobile phones, ipad, memory stick, my bank statements, some letters, etc. They said they would forensically go through my phones to see my contacts, text messages, etc. They basically turned the house upside down. After searching the house they took me to our local police station where I spent from 11.30am till 4pm.
I was put in a cell, interviewed by two police officers under caution which was recorded. Later on, my finger prints and photo were taken. It was a nerve racking experience to say the least. It was akin to watching a horror rubbish.
Before the interview began, I explained to them that there was no point wasting their time as I would be as honest as possible with any question they ask me. I told them the whole truth.
They asked me series of questions starting from when I came to UK, how I got the previous job, how I got to know the person whose identity I had used, what discussion led to him agreeing to give me his passport. I told them that this happened a very long time ago (2002) and I can not remember all the details, but that the owner of the ID needed to be strongly persuaded before he agreed to assist me with it because he was sympathetic towards me. The interview lasted just over an hour. Though the police officers did not want to go into too much details, but they hinted that the investigation is to do with fraud. I do not want to pre-empt things but going by how the interview went and all the questions they asked me, I am inclined to think that it is probably a case of Benefit Fraud. I think my friend was running his own small business, at the same time I was using his ID to work since 2002 and he was also doing benefit fraud. This is just a speculation, I may well be wrong. During the interview the police officers mentioned HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs), that is why I am thinking that it is to do with benefit fraud. They took my old bank statements which showed that I actually worked at the place. In 2006 I had come across some documentation in the name of my friend relating to benefits claim, he stated on the form that he had three children and two of them were disabled. From information I gleaned from the form, he was paid around £7,000 benefits. At the time I knew that my friend was not married not to talk of having three children. It was none of my business, so I kept quiet about it. After all, it was in his name.
The police showed me a copy of my friend's passport dated 1995 which is exactly the same copy I used to secure the job in 2002, given to me by my friend at the time. They also showed me a more recent picture of my friend and asked me if I recognised him. I told them that I had not seen him for 14 years (I may have last seen him in 2000), but looking at the picture, it is a resemblance of him.
About 5 weeks ago my friend had emailed me asking for my phone number because he wanted to speak to me. We were hardly in touch for many years. He then asked for the P45 that was given to me when I left the job where I had worked using his name. He mentioned that he needed to show it to his accountant in order to prepare his accounts. The P45 was sent to me when I left the job in February 2014, I destroyed it because I did not think it would be needed, also I was not in contact with him anymore for a few years. I also did not want to leave anything that is not in my name in our house. But I told him that I could ask my former employer to send me a Statement of Earnings which shows earnings and tax payment in the last financial year prior to me quitting the job. This was sent to my address, I then sent it to him.
They asked me if my friend was benefiting financially from the wages I got through the job. I explained that he was not, though his student loan was being deducted monthly from my wages and that had been going on for maybe around 7 years. I did not speak to him about it because, after all he was kind enough to allow me use his passport to secure a job when I was desperate and did not have any other means of survival.
I told them emphatically that I know that what I did was a criminal offence, but it was better working and paying tax even though I worked using someone else's passport than for me to do drugs. They asked me when I decided to leave the job was it instigated by my friend. I said that I realised that I had used his name to work for a very long time without being caught and I made the decision to stop using it once I was granted leave to remain. I had been granted leave to remain in July 2013 and I stopped using in February 2014 after I had secured a job in my own name. They were in some ways pleased that I had stopped using my friend’s ID once I had got my own leave to remain.
After the interview, I mentioned to the police officers that I had already booked a ticket to travel to abroad, they had wanted me to attend the London police station on 14th January which is the same day I will be arriving from abroad. They later changed the date to 8th January. They said I am free to travel but I should not live anywhere else in the UK beside my current address.
At the end of the whole thing, they said they would go through my phones and ipad and get back to me before the end of the week with a view to returning them back to me. They would also go through all the evidence they took from our house and the CPS (Crime Prosecution Service) would decide whether there is enough evidence to pursue a charge in court or not. The only evidence taken from my house that is of value to the investigation is the Statement of Earnings letter.
As the interview ended, I asked the police officers what is likely going to happen to me, they said three things:
1. they would either write down everything I had said to them and get me to sign it. This would be used to prosecute my friend and I would go free
2. I may get a caution
3. I may get a 10 year prison sentence. They mentioned that this is highly unlikely as my offence weighs very low on the scale of offences that would result in a custodial sentence of 10 years.
So I hope I don’t get a caution/conviction as this would affect future applications to the Almighty Home Office. I would ask specific questions later in relation to the impact of applications for someone with a Caution, that is if the police decides to take the matter further.
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