Jihadi John family's 20 years on benefits: How it's cost taxpayers up to £400k to house fanatic and his relatives in upmarket areas
- Mohammed Emwazi's family granted asylum in 1996 after leaving Kuwait
- They have since lived in five homes, one of which was worth £450 per week
- Neither his father Jasem, 51, nor mother Ghaneya worked while in Britain
- Westminster City Council is still paying rent on family’s £600,000 flat
- One landlord described the family as ‘parasites’ and ‘tenants from hell’
- MPs blasted family for 'abusing hospitality' and say payouts are 'disgrace'
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Jihadi John and his asylum-seeking family have milked the British benefits system for 20 years, the Mail can reveal today.
Housing the Islamic State executioner and his relatives in affluent parts of London has cost taxpayers up to £400,000.
One landlord said Mohammed Emwazi’s family were ‘parasites’ and ‘tenants from hell’. Incredibly, they are still believed to be pocketing £40,000 a year in handouts despite there being no sign of them in Britain.
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Mohammed Emwazi: Jihadi John (pictured left and right) and his asylum-seeking family have milked the British benefits system for 20 years, with Westminster City Council still paying rent on their £600,000 home
The family have claimed hundreds of thousands of pounds in benefits in Britain since arriving in the UK and lived in homes costing £450 a week. Pictured: The family home in Queen's Park for the past eight years
Emwazi’s father Jasem, who has six children, is back in his native Kuwait – the country he claimed he fled fearing for his life.
Westminster City Council is still paying the rent on the family’s £600,000 flat even though the rules say housing benefit should normally be stopped after 13 weeks.
MPs said they were horrified that the child of a family given refugee status, citizenship and benefits had returned the favour by orchestrating the murder of two of its citizens.‘They are abusing our hospitality,’ said Philip Hollobone. ‘The rules are quite clear. If there has been any abuse of the system here, money should be paid back.
'Mohammed Emwazi’s offences are worse than murder or terrorism. They are an assault on the British way of life.’
David Davies, a fellow Tory MP, said: ‘This is an absolute outrage and a disgrace. We should stop their housing benefit immediately. Mr Emwazi clearly doesn’t need asylum in this country.’
The family lived in this £1.4m apartment in Maida Vale, north London, from 2005 to 2007
Before that, the family lived for two years at a a £600,000 apartment near Lord’s Cricket Ground (pictured)
The Mail investigation can also reveal that:
- The family fled Kuwait after the first Gulf War, claiming persecution because they were seen to favour the Iraqi invasion in 1990;
- They claimed asylum in the UK and won refugee status in 1996;
- Five years later they were made British citizens and then started travelling back to Kuwait;
- The family have claimed hundreds of thousands of pounds in benefits in Britain since their arrival in the country and lived in homes costing £450 a week;
- Emwazi’s father is now back working in Kuwait while the family continues to receive state assistance for the home in Queen’s Park.
The owner of a house in Little Venice where they lived for four years said Westminster City Council paid £450 a week in rent for the family – £23,400 a year.
The family claimed asylum in the UK and won refugee status in 1996, after fleeing from Kuwait in 1994. Pictured: Their council flat from 1999 to 2003
They fled Kuwait after the first Gulf War, claiming persecution because they were seen to favour the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Pictured: Their first three-bedroom flat from 1996 to 1999 in Little Venice
Two more of the five owners of homes they have lived in have confirmed their rent was paid by the council or through a housing association.
Assuming the same £23,400-a-year cost, then the bill over 20 years is £468,000.
Emwazi’s father Jasem, 51, and his wife Ghaneya brought their family – including Mohammed, then aged six – to Britain in 1994.
The couple successfully argued that because they are ‘Bedoon’ – stateless people denied citizenship by Kuwait – they should be granted asylum. The award of British citizenship allowed the whole family to make regular trips back to Kuwait.
During their time in Britain, neither Jasem nor Ghaneya officially worked, although the owner of one of their homes alleges Mr Emwazi was working on the side for cash in hand.
Records show the family were first placed in a three-bedroom apartment – now worth £900,000 – in Little Venice before moving to a £1million terraced home. The £1,950-a-month rent was covered by Westminster City Council, according to the property’s owner.
The house had to be turned from four bedrooms to five to accommodate the growing family, whose four-year stay cost taxpayers about £93,600 in rent alone.
Despite the huge outlay, Mr Emwazi tried to buy the home for £300,000 – even though it was worth double this at the time. The owner had no idea how he had the cash to make the offer, which was declined.
The Emwazis were then moved to a £600,000 apartment near Lord’s Cricket Ground, which was rented through Network Housing Group, and then on to a £1.4million apartment in Maida Vale.
DAMNED IN HIS OWN WORDS, JIHADI JOHN RANTS AT GRILLING BY SPOOKS
Emwazi: Claimed he denounced the 9/11 and London atrocities when questioned by MI5
Islamic pressure group Cage tried yesterday to justify its portrayal of Emwazi as a ‘reasonable man’ who was radicalised only as a result of being harassed by MI5. It issued a tape of him speaking in 2009 to Cage activist Asim Qureshi in which he claims he denounced terrorism when quizzed by an MI5 officer.
'While we were interviewing after... right at the end, he [the MI5 agent] said: “I would like to ask you some serious questions now”, and while I’m packing my pack... This is while I’m packing some of my stuff...
I said to him: “Yeah, go on, ask it.” He said: “No, no, I’d like to sit face to face and ask you these questions.” I said: “Wow, these must be some serious questions. Now let’s get down to it.”
I left the stuff, I come back, sat down, looked at him ... And then he looked at me … he said: “Mohammed, what do you think of 7/7? [the London bombings in 2005]” I said: “Innocent people have been… have died. What do you think? I think this is extremism.”
He said: “OK, what do you think of the war in Afghanistan?” I said: “What do I think? We see the news and innocent people are getting killed.”
He started telling me: “What do you think of 9/11?” I told him: “This is a wrong thing. What happened was wrong. What do you want me to say? If I had the opportunity for those lives to come back then I would make those lives come back. I don’t think... I think what happened is wrong.”
Then he is asking me: “What do you think of the Jews, just like...” I told him: “They’re a religion, everyone has got his right to his own beliefs. I can’t... I don’t force no one.”
So he just tries... he wants to know about my background... about my, about, about my creed... Islam.
I told him: “This is how Islam is”... I told him we don’t force anyone to come into religion you know, everyone has got their own right. And I don’t believe… I told him anything that has been happening is extremely... anything like bombs or whatever is all from extremists. And then, so after all of this he come back and he looked at me and said: “I still believe you are going to Somalia to train” [Emwazi had just been deported from Tanzania, where he claimed he was going on safari].
I said: “After what I just told you... After that I told you what’s happening is extremism this and that and you are still suggesting I am an extremist?”
He just started going on on, forcing... trying to put words into my mouth and saying: “No, you are doing this, this, this and we are going to keep a close eye on you, Mohammed, and we already have been... We are going to keep a close eye on you...” threatening, you know, and just went out.'
Eventually, they settled in a £600,000 flat in upmarket Queen’s Park. The family has lived there for the past eight years and the owner told the Mail it is still rented to them.
With a 12-year-old daughter, Hana, they are still believed to be claiming an estimated £7,821 a year in child benefits and child tax credits.
That is on top of annual claims of about £23,400 in housing benefit, £678 in council tax support and £5,929 in jobseeker’s allowance.
Their daughter Shayma, 23, is thought to be studying at Brunel University London, for which she is entitled to a grant of £3,387.
Sithy Hussain, 65, owns the £1million home in Little Venice and told the Mail that Mr Emwazi was an ‘aggressive sod’.
She added: ‘They were parasites. He was the tenant from hell. The rent went up to £450 a week and it was paid from housing benefits. They didn’t pay one penny.
‘They stayed for a few years and there were problems. They had to have another room because they had another child and they had the locks changed.’
Yesterday, a lawyer for Mr Emwazi insisted he returned to Kuwait from Britain last November and did not work in the Gulf state.
In sickening propaganda videos, his son led the beheadings of Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.
HEAD WHO DEFENDED JOHN LOST JOB OVER EXPENSES
The superhead who has spoken of Mohammed Emwazi as a ‘caring, aspirational’ boy was banned from teaching for life after wrongly spending £30,000 of public money.
Jo Shuter was in charge of Quintin Kynaston Academy in north-west London when Mohammed Emwazi was a pupil there.
Mrs Shuter was awarded a CBE in 2010 and named head of the year in 2007. But she was forced to resign in 2013 after spending £30,000 of state funds on lavish parties and hotel rooms – including a £7,000 bill for her 50th birthday party.
Jo Shuter (pictured with Tony Blair) who spoken of Emwazi as a ‘caring, aspirational’ boy, was banned from teaching for life after wrongly spending £30,000 of public money
She claimed expenses for fancy meals, taxi rides and overnight conferences at plush hotels. Last year, a professional conduct panel banned her from teaching for life.
This week, she claimed Emwazi was bullied during his time at the school and staff helped him to deal with his ‘adolescent issues’.
She said he was a ‘hardworking aspirational young man’ who wanted to go to university and took ‘caring responsibilities’ for his siblings.
She added: ‘When I’m listening to the news and I hear his name I feel the skin on the back of my neck stand up because it is just so far from what I knew of him.’
Most Quinton Kynaston pupils are from ethnic minority groups. A high proportion speak English as an additional language.
Mrs Shuter took over the school as a ‘superhead’ in 2002, when it was failing. She became a favourite of then Prime Minister Tony Blair, who visited several times, reportedly coming face to face with Emwazi.
She will be eligible to appeal against the ban from May 13, 2016.
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