A PASTOR’S wife who runs a charity given £15,000 by Children In Need sent her own kids to private school by swindling the taxpayer out of £55,000.
Elizabeth Kayembe, 43, lied that she was out of work to claim Jobseekers’ Allowance while employed as a council finance officer.
The scam raked in £10,000 – and she pocketed another £45,000 in housing and council tax benefits.
At the same time, the Kenya-born mum gave her sons, aged 12 and ten, a top-flight education. One went to £4,000-a-term Chigwell School, the other to £3,000-a-term Ilford School, both in Essex.
Kayembe admitted fraud when she appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London.
Her Essex-based charity – called the Sizanani Africa project – helps black kids living in the UK to stay out of trouble. It won £100,000 in grants, including £15,000 from the BBC’s Children In Need appeal.
Shamed Kayembe, of Ilford, whose husband Lubwika, 40, is a pastor in a Pentecostal church, told fraudbusters her family was suffering hardship and the swindled cash only went on essentials. She will be sentenced next month.
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