We don't have the power to kick out Abu Hamza's wife from her £1million taxpayer-funded home, says council
- Council pay rent on exclusive London five-bed home for hate cleric's wife
- Say they are 'powerless' to remove her as she has four children at home
By
Daily Mail UK, 31 May 2013
Council bosses have abandoned attempts to move Abu Hamza’s wife from her £1million taxpayer-funded house.
Officials admitted yesterday they are ‘powerless’ to throw out Najat Mostafa, the hook-handed cleric’s second wife, from the five-bedroom property in an exclusive west London street.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which pays her rent, asked her to downsize last year after discovering that only two of the couple’s seven children were living there with her.
Exclusive: The home of terrorist Abu Hamza's wife Najat Mostafa in Shepherd's Bush, London, is the only council-owned house in a street favoured by lawyers and bankers
Terrorism charges: The hook-handed radical cleric was deported to the US to face charges last year
But it said it had changed its mind after recently carrying out an audit and discovering that two more of her children have since moved back into the house, meaning she is no longer classed as ‘under-occupying’.
The local authority declined to reveal the ages of the children or how much rent is payable for what is the only council property in the street in Shepherd’s Bush, an area popular with bankers and City lawyers.
Hamza also has a son from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1984, and has never officially lived in the home.
His Moroccan-born wife moved into the large property in 1995 after
claiming that the couple had separated.
But neighbours said the hate preacher was often seen at the house until his arrest in August 2004 over allegations of incitement to murder and racial hatred.
Mrs Mostafa has received thousands of pounds in benefits during her time living there and the house has twice been refurbished during the past decade, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds.
Hamza was extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges last year, having delayed his deportation in the courts since 2004.
He is accused of hostage-taking in Yemen and supporting attempts to set up an Al Qaeda training camp in the US.
Large family: Hamza has seven children with Mrs Mostafa
The cleric, infamous for his firebrand preaching against Britain and the West at North London’s Finsbury Park mosque, was previously jailed in Britain in 2006 for incitement to murder and racial hatred.
Mrs Mostafa lives next door to former work and pensions secretary Lord Hutton, who declined to comment on the row over the house.
But another neighbour, who described himself as retired but would not give his name, said:
‘It is ironic that she is living next door to the man who gave them so many handouts.
‘I am not happy she is here. She is very reclusive, she does not mix with neighbours. You see her walk down the street at quite a pace.
‘Nobody knows how many children are living there.’
A spokesman for Hammersmith and Fulham Council said: ‘We found that she is no longer under-occupying and she is living perfectly adequately in the property with the right number of children living there.
‘The council has no power or ability to tell her, or even ask her, to leave because she is not under-occupying.’
It is also unable to evict her as there is
no time limit on her tenancy agreement.
The council said that since she signed her lease, it had changed its policy and that all new tenancy agreements were limited to five years, so that tenants could be moved if their circumstances changed.
Mrs Mostafa refused to comment......
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