Benefits fraudster who made £1.5m running escort agency to fund private schools jailed again

A benefits fraudster who was running her own escort agency that earned her £1.5m ($2m) she spent on luxury holidays and private schools for her children, has been jailed after a retrial.

Mother-of-five Janine Adeleke, from Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, was jailed for three years in September 2015 after being convicted of claiming thousands in benefits despite running a "high-class" escort agency called Carlton's Of London.

The 45-year-old failed to disclose her income for nearly eight years before she was caught spending more than £103,000 on beauty treatments, leisure and holidays, and over £88,000 in high street stores.

Adeleke was caged after the conclusion of a three-week trial at Canterbury Crown Court where she was found guilty of seven separate counts of fraud, including money laundering, cheating the public revenue, tax credits and benefit fraud.

Although handed a three year jail term, she will only be inside for a few weeks as she has already served nearly a half the original sentence, reported The Mirror.

Judge Heather Norton said: "This was quite simply breathtaking dishonesty on an extraordinarily wide scale and lengthy period.

"Your evidence, which was given over days, was evasive, difficult to follow and contradictory and when you were asked a question which you were not expecting, you had difficulty in providing a sensible answer and became flustered."

The court had heard how Adeleke ran the escort agency between November 2006 and October 2014 which boasted providing the "finest London escorts to gentlemen of distinction".

Adeleke's agency took a 35 per cent cut from its workers, who each had a varied rate from £200 to £2,000 an hour.

Prosecutor Allistair Walker said Adeleke's offending began after she separated from her husband in 2006.

"There followed a traumatic and bitter separation and there can be little doubt that as a consequence the defendant was left much less comfortably off," he said.

"While claiming benefits she came to run a successful and expensive escort agency which boasted: 'VIP Models of poise, sophistication and stunning good looks for elite gentlemen'."

Investigators found that more than £1.2m had passed through her bank accounts, enabling Adeleke to splash out at least £120,000 on private schools.

Adeleke was adjudged to have stolen £212,000 in unpaid Income Tax, National Insurance Contributions and tax credits payments by declaring that she had no income, according to the Bexhill Observer.

She also claimed over £37,000 in Income Support and other state benefits, and laundered £157,000 of illicit cash.

HMRC say confiscation proceedings have started to reclaim the money stolen by Adeleke.