Kamran Malik, a former Newham mayoral candidate, has been jailed for six and a half years after being convicted of fraud and money laundering. The court heard that he falsely presented himself as a solicitor, exploiting people who trusted him, including an elderly woman entitled to a friend’s life-insurance payment.

Malik stole £51,000 in life insurance owed to Cydatty Bogie after Cynthia Smart died in 2017, and took more than £12,000 in rent from Smart’s flat. He was also found to have attempted to sell pensioner Derek Jeffery’s £400,000 home while claiming to act as an attorney; a jury convicted him of six fraud counts and one money-laundering count covering 2017 to 2020.