Deport me back to Bulgaria, pleads benefits cheat

A convicted Bulgarian benefits fraudster who wants to be deported cannot be sent home as prosecutors are still trying to recover the money he stole.

Stoyan Stoyanov, 28, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2024 for his role in a gang that carried out the largest benefit fraud operation ever uncovered in the UK.

The Bulgarian nationals “systematically plundered” the country’s welfare system and admitted to stealing upwards of £50 million of taxpayers’ money over a four-and-half-year period.

Galina Nikolova, 39, Tsvetka Todorova, 53, Gyunesh Ali, 34, Patritsia Paneva, 27 and Stoyanov were jailed for a combined 25 years in May last year at Wood Green Crown Court.

At a confiscation hearing last week, Stoyanov, who has been released on licence, demanded to be sent back to his own country as he had a “right to a normal life”.

The court heard that a deportation order was made against him and that he has been released from detention on immigration bail until the conclusion of confiscation proceedings against the gang.

Because of a number of delays, the proceedings could continue into the summer.

Robert Morris told the court on behalf of Stoyanov that the suggestion of him holding £25 million in hidden assets – as alleged by prosecutors – was “ridiculous”.

Stoyanov’s barrister argued that the gang themselves had not made anywhere near as much as was being claimed.

David Aaronberg KC, the judge, said that he was also “struggling to understand” how the Crown Prosecution Service had concluded that Stoyanov, who was described as an “assistant”, could have so much hidden wealth.

The gang made false benefits claims for Universal Credit with an array of forged documents that used the identities of real people, who were living in Bulgaria, complicit in the scheme and received a share of the money. They claimed the people were living and working in the UK, making them therefore entitled to benefits.

So far, £1 million of the gang’s haul has been recovered.

Mr Morris said that Stoyanov was now living “hand to mouth” and wanted to be deported so that he could return to his young children in Bulgaria.

He said that Stoyanov’s “life was on hold” as a result of the conviction and he was not able to work, adding that he is also unable to claim benefits.

During his sentencing hearing, it emerged that Stoyanov had continued to process £17,000 in fraudulent claims at the gang’s “benefits factories” after his arrest in May 2021.

Mr Morris continued: “He has been released on licence. He is now subject to immigration bail and an order has been made on his deportation. The only reason he is still in the country is a result of the [confiscation] proceedings.”

As the hearing was drawing to a close, Stoyanov stood up in court and demanded to make representations to the judge in person.

Speaking via a translator, he said: “I appreciate everything that has been done by everybody in this courtroom but I am not happy with the dates.

“Why is it my family, myself and my wife and our three children – all of whom have health issues – why should we all suffer? Don’t we have the right to lead a normal life the way normal people do? Where is the fairness in that?”

Stoyanov is the partner of Nikolova, who is one of the gang’s ringleaders and is still currently in prison serving an eight-year sentence.

Stoyanov ordered to comply

Responding to the outburst, Mr Justice Aaronberg said: “The reality is you don’t have the right to a completely normal life because you have been convicted of an extremely serious offence.”

While he expressed some sympathy with his situation, the judge said that Stoyanov was required to comply with the court’s orders until the confiscation proceedings were concluded.

On behalf of Nikolova, Simon Farrell KC also argued that the gang had obtained benefits primarily for people living in Bulgaria and did not themselves have the vast sums that were stolen. He requested that proceedings were concluded quickly so that Nikolova could also be deported.

He said: “The effect of what is going on is a constant kicking of the can down the road, and she remains in custody and is not deported.”

The Telegraph previously revealed that the scheme was only uncovered after a lone Bulgarian police officer told British authorities that his home city of Sliven had suddenly become awash with cash and criminals who were “living like barons”.

The group had thousands of “customers” and joked about the Department for Work and Pensions’ inability to catch them in messages shared on WhatsApp.

At the sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Aaronberg said the criminals were able to operate undetected for years because of a “woefully inadequate checking system” at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The Telegraph understands that the true cost of the fraud will probably be hundreds of millions of pounds more than the DWP’s estimate.

A DWP spokesman said the gang carried out a “sophisticated, targeted attack on the benefits system”, adding: “It’s right that we bring these fraudsters to justice and recover taxpayers’ money where possible.”

Fraudster ‘revelled’ in profits

The gang member handed the second longest sentence was Gyunesh Ali, who was jailed for seven years. Ali was said to have “revelled” in the vast amount of money he made through the offence, which he used to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Philip Kazantzis, Ali’s barrister, asked on his behalf that when he is released from prison, he is allowed access to a laptop and “games console”. Under the current conditions of his licence, he would only be permitted one computer and a phone upon release.

Mr Justice Aaronberg said he would grant the order amendment.

Todorova, who operated her own fraud with a similar methodology and stole just under £300,000, was handed a three-year sentence. She served 18 months in prison – half her sentence – and has therefore already been released.

She is also waiting to find out whether she will be deported. It is understood that Todorova – unlike the others – would like to remain in the UK.

In an interview with Bulgarian media after her release, she described her time inside British prison as similar to being on holiday.

A Home Office spokesman said it did not comment on individual cases.