A fraudster who claimed his father had died in the Grenfell Tower fire to receive emergency money and a free stay at a hotelhas been jailed.

Two days after the tragedy in June last year, Mohammad Gamoota, 31, told council officials that he had been living with his father on the 24th floor when the fire ripped through the building.

Gamoota pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud for his attempt to gain a total of £6,784.36, when he appeared at Isleworth crown court in London.

He was jailed for 18 months on each count and the sentences are due to run concurrently.

Judge Robin Johnson told him: “Looking at your case, I am satisfied that any right-minded person would look on your behaviour with utter revulsion. In the wake of a national disaster, you decided to enrich yourself while you masqueraded as a true victim. This was not a moment of madness.

“You spent days in accommodation that was set aside for those who were grief-stricken, homeless and no doubt in a state of shock and bewilderment. That did not stop you tapping into the funds that had rightly been made available for those people.”

The flat Gamoota claimed to have lived in never existed but he used the name of Abdel Salam, a man who died in the fire and had been named in the press, as the backdrop for his fraud.

He claimed that Salam, whose two sons had been visiting a mosque when the fire occurred, was his father. Gamoota had no connection with Salam.

He posed as a resident of the tower block between 14 June and 29 July and made representations to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to dishonestly gain money and accommodation, according to the charges.

He received £500 in emergency funds and asked for another £5,000, which survivors were entitled to claim. It was only because of a technical hitch with Gamoota’s bank account that £4,500 was returned.

Gamoota was given a room at the Holiday Inn between 16 June and 23 June at a cost of £910. He also enjoyed £374.35 worth of room service.

Prosecutor Benjamin Holt said that the pain and injury caused by the fraud affected the wider community, including survivors and grieving relatives. This included Salam’s grieving son who had to answer police questions for a witness statement as they investigated the fraud.

Grenfell residents condemned the fraud as “disgusting and distasteful”.

Manuel Alves, a resident, said in a victim impact statement: “Words cannot express how disgusted I am that the fraudsters have had the audacity to pull such a stunt. They have violated the real victims and survivors by abusing the system that has been put in place to help us.

“The action of these fraudsters have totally ripped the heart and faith of the Grenfell Tower community.”