A WOMAN has been found guilty of claiming almost £100,000 in benefits using a false passport and jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Yesterday Grace Jinjika, of Flatford Place, Kidlington, was convicted of eight charges following a six-day trial at Oxford Crown Court.

The 37-year-old was found guilty of cheating the public revenue by claiming benefits she was not entitled to between May 2005 and October 2013.

Jinjika was also convicted of four charges of dishonestly producing or allowing to be produced false documents to claim benefits.

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During the trial a jury heard that she was given a visa to say she could stay in the UK for six months after arriving from Zimbabwe in 2000.

But prosecutor Naomi Perry said Jinjika bought a new passport with a forged Home Office letter for £1,000 from a person she said was a lawyer.

Yesterday defence barrister Richard Mohabir told judge Peter Ross: “She’s always said she didn’t really think she was defrauding anyone, but she has now been found guilty.

“She didn’t mention her immigration status and that is what this case has always been about.”

Judge Ross said it was likely Jinjika would be deported back to Zimbabwe when she had served half her sentence.

He told her using a forged passport was an “extremely serious offence” and added: “It was to defeat the immigration controls of the UK.’’

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