Man jailed for stealing £10,000 Covid grant after six weeks

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A man jailed for stealing an emergency business grant of £10,000 has been released after spending just six weeks behind bars.

Ezzedine Youssef deceived Liverpool City Council by falsely claiming he was entitled to support his car wash business in Fairfield.

He did mention that the Izzy Bizzy Hand wash company in Prescott Road had stopped trading three years ago and left the unit in 2019.

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When the board called the 65-year-old to confront him about the fraud, Youssef lied, saying he had already spent the money and hung up, before later using the cash to buy a taxi.

Judge Anil Murray said Yusuf’s allegations had an “impact on society” and “must be followed by a deterrent sentence” when he imprisoned him for six months in July.

But the fraudster appealed the verdict and this week his lawyer, Callum Ross, convinced the top judges of the Court of Appeals to release him.

Liverpool Crown Court earlier heard how the government awarded the Liverpool region just under £108m to award small businesses grants to “help support them during the economic downturn”.

In order to qualify for grants, a business must have been in circulation as of March 11, 2020 and have received a small business rate exemption.

Youssef emailed the council on July 30, 2020 telling him that he had not received a grant to wash his car and that he was entitled to one.

This was not true as he left the building at the end of 2018 and by February 2019 there was a new tenant.

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On August 6, a council official sent Youssef an email telling him if he wanted a scholarship, he had to submit a formal application.

Youssef submitted a signed form the next day and was given £10,000, which was deposited into his account on August 12.

On August 25, the Council’s Fraud and Compliance Team received advice from a member of the public about Yusuf’s fraud.

The employer now in the unit also reported that he had received letters addressed to Youssef.

A council officer called Bassem Youssef in early October, when the fraudster said he had spent the money and abruptly dropped the call.

Investigations led police to the abandoned Newsham Park Hospital, where Youssef was living, on January 28 this year.

He tried to escape through the fence but was arrested at the scene.

When he was interviewed, he told police he felt he “deserved” the grant because of the job rates he had paid in the past.

Yusef, of Orphan Drive, Newsham Park, who admitted to the fraud, has since paid off all the money.

He had previously been convicted in February 2008 of criminal damage and threatening behaviour.

Speaking at the July hearing, defending Mr Ross, Mr. Ross said his client was no longer sticking to the comments in the pre-sentence report, when he tried to “exonerate himself and your honor might consider assigning some of the blame to the board and the police”.

Ross urged the judge to spare Youssef from prison, noting that there was a “realistic possibility of rehabilitation” and that Youssef was assessed as having a low risk of recidivism, and that he “happily” paid the money and was “repentant.”

He said Youssef was born in Sudan but “escaped” from the African country in 2000 as a “political refugee” and is now a British citizen.

The lawyer said Youssef had recently worked as a taxi driver, but the taxi he had been riding since was detained by the police.

Ross said Youssef had siblings with children in Sudan, to whom he sends £300 a month, and they were somewhat of his “dependents”.

Yusef, who has started a new job as a warehouse worker for Hut Group in Warrington, said he was “disturbed” that his family would be affected financially if he was imprisoned.

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“I have learned, as we have all done, that businesses in this country need help during the Covid crisis and there has been a huge demand for this money,” Judge Murray told Joseph.

“It prevented these funds from being available for some other legitimate public need,” the judge added.

Judge Murray did not accept that Youssef was remorseful for what he said in his pre-sentencing report.

“You took money that was intended to help businesses during the Covid 19 pandemic, it means that this is a case where the appropriate punishment can only be achieved by instant seizure,” he said.

Joseph has appealed his sentence, which means that it has been re-examined by Lord Justice Malles, Mrs. Chema Group, and Mr. Justice Murray in London.

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Ross argued that it was not a deterrent and that the extreme dilution of his client meant that his prison term should have been suspended.

He told the appeals court that Youssef had not had any relevant prior convictions and had been employed most of his life and confirmed that the pre-sentence report also spoke favorably of his willingness to work with the probation service.

The three chief justices again rejected any claim that Joseph was remorseful.

But they agreed with Mr. Ross’ requests and said that given all the mitigation they had heard, Joseph should not have been imprisoned.

They abolished the six-month prison sentence and handed Yousef six months in prison, suspended for 12 months.

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