Labour councillor Tonia Ashikodi (pictured) lived in a council house while collecting rent from three properties
A Labour politician who collected thousands of pounds in rent from three properties but lied so she could live in a council flat has been spared jail and will not have to pay back a penny.
Greenwich councillor Tonia Ashikodi, 30, owned three homes which she rented out to private tenants.
Ashikodi declared she had no other property in 2008 when she signed her council tenancy agreement then repeated the lie four years later.
The councillor, who was elected to the Glydon Ward for Labour after a by-election in 2016, still lives at the council home in Plumstead with her father Tony Ashikodi, 50.
This afternoon, Greenwich Council leader Dan Thorpe confirmed he had received an email from Ashikodi ‘tendering her resignation as a councillor’ with ‘immediate effect’.
Ashikodi denied two counts of fraud by false representation but was unanimously convicted by a jury of both charges after a one-week trial.
The mother-of-three submitted a false document claiming she was only ever the legal owner, not the beneficiary of the properties, Inner London Crown Court heard.
Judge Benedict Kelleher told Ashikodi: ‘The borough has many more deserving people than it has houses to house them, and as a result of your action another family may have lived in temporary housing unnecessarily.
‘You are the mother of three very young children. You are the primary carer of them.
‘I accept that your husband has been diagnosed with diabetes type 2 and hypertension but I do not accept that he will not be able to assist you with them.
‘The sentence that you will receive today will inevitably bring your appointment as counsellor to an end.’
Ms Ashikodi denied two counts of fraud by false representation at Inner London Crown Court (pictured) butwas unanimously convicted by a jury of both charges after a one-week trial
The judge added: ‘From what the defence is saying there are no means for the confiscation order.
‘I cannot make an order that you are realistically unable to pay.’
Judge Kelleher sentenced her to 18 months in prison suspended for two years and ordered her to perform 250 hours unpaid work.
Earlier Robert Fitt, prosecuting, told jurors: ‘These were frauds by false representation because Ms Ashikodi told these lies to Royal Borough of Greenwich (RBG), knowing they were lies, in order to obtain a council house for herself without having to give up any of the three house she already owned.
‘As you may well know, social housing is a scarce commodity in London.
‘Waiting lists for social housing in London boroughs are very long – on the facts of this case alone you can see that it took three and a half years for RBG to find a suitable property to offer Ms Ashikodi.
‘The reality is that by obtaining a council house that she didn’t really need, Ms Ashikodi has prevented someone in real need being offered the tenancy at 13B Robert Street.’
Pictured: The tower block in which Ms Ashikodi shares a council flat in Plumstead with her father Tony Ashikodi, 50
The councillor was alleged to have rented out a property in Valiant House (pictured) which is located in Charlton
Ashikodi’s barrister had suggested that his client had not lied because she was just looking after the properties for her father.
But the original application for council housing Ashikodi filled out in 2008 claimed she had nowhere else to live.
‘It may well be the case that she says she only owned the beneficial interest,’ said Mr Fitt.
‘The question only asked ‘do you own any other residential property.’
‘I suggested to you, ladies and gentlemen, an honest person filling out this form would have ticked the box that said yes and then would have explained ‘I have properties in my name but I hold them on trust for my father’, something along those lines.
‘That is something an honest and decent person would have done.’
Mr Fitt reminded the jury that they had heard evidence from the Housing Office confirming that had they known about the properties Ashikodi would not have been given the council flat.
‘She got that property because of a lie she told in this form,’ he said.
Jurors heard that upon being given a council flat in 2012, Ashikodi signed a form claiming her housing circumstances had not changed.
On the same day Ashikodi signed the acceptance for the council property, she signed an agreement to let out one of her properties.
Mr Fitt said this showed her declaration that she had nowhere to live was ‘simply untrue.’
Pictured: The two properties in Thamesmead that Ms Ashikodi was alleged to have rented out after lying to council bosses about her need for a council house
Ashikodi and her father were earlier cleared of one count of perverting the course of justice at the close of the prosecution case due to lack of evidence.
Two of the properties are in Thamesmead and one is in Valiant House, overlooking the Valley, home of Charlton FC.
Prithvijit Hoon, defending, had asked the judge to consider Ashikodi’s financial circumstances and personal hardship by sparing her from jail and passing a community order.
He said: ‘She is currently living on benefits.
‘She tells me that she would be able, and would be willing to undertake unpaid work.
‘So far has her personal circumstances she has three children, one older, aged eight, and twins aged five.
‘The eldest is disabled and requires speech therapy.
Mr Hoon explained Ashikodi’s ill husband was unable to work and her £10,000 counsellor allowance and a skincare business she ran at a loss made her the family ‘breadwinner’.
He said: ‘She is the only person with regular income in her family although modest it may be. She is the only breadwinner in the family.
‘She has now embarked on a modest skincare shop.
‘She is the person responsible for running the shop, although it is currently running at a loss.
‘[Her husband] is unable to work, he has type 2 diabetes and hypertension’.
After Mr Fitt suggested she should pay £67,470, in compensation and costs, Mr Hoon said: ‘She has high liabilities in relation to the upkeep of her household and her children. She simply has no means to pay compensation or costs.’
Ashikodi denied but was convicted of two counts of fraud by false representation.