Judge Shows Unusual Mercy To Nigerian Woman In UK

Thirty six year old Linda Okungbowa, a Nigerian illegal immigrant and mother-of-three, has avoided jail after falsely receiving £50,000 in benefits to settle traffickers who brought her into the UK.

Linda, who entered Britain 12 years ago with a fake passport, claimed the funds in destitution and child benefits while working with false identities.

What shocked the UK was that she received only a suspended sentence which many consider an ‘amazing display of mercy’.

Linda Okungbowa was previously sent to jail for eight months in 2011 for getting employed with fake credentials while claiming up to £70,000 in benefits. Despite this, Judge Simon Lawler QC said the circumstances on this occasion were different because she has support from a local Sheffield church that is protecting her from further committing crime.

The Nigerian Linda, entered the UK in 2004 hoping to be trained as a doctor but became entangled in a debt cycle with those who smuggled her in.

Okungbowa said that she used the falsely claimed benefits to pay back the traffickers who kept on increasing the money she owed them and were even threatening her family in Nigeria. She said she was so destitute that her children had to walk 12 miles with her when going to school in Sheffield each day because they could not afford the bus. She also had to work several jobs to pay back her debt.

The mother of an 11, nine and one year old said: “I’m not proud of the things I have done but I have been given a chance.”

The reverend father at the The Ark Church who are protecting her, said: “It was a balance between justice and mercy. We saw an amazing display of mercy.”