Bulgarian at heart of Britain's biggest benefit fraud could be back home with children within months

Telegraph

29-03-2025

A Bulgarian woman who was jailed for eight years for her role in the biggest benefit fraud ever uncovered in Britain could be sent home and reunited with her children within months, The Telegraph can reveal.
Galina Nikolova, 39, was sentenced in May 2024 after a gang 'systematically plundered' the UK's welfare system and stole at least £50 million of taxpayer money.
It has now emerged that despite the lengthy sentence, she became eligible for deportation only five months later in October under the early removal scheme and could be free by the summer.
This was partly a result of time served on remand while she awaited sentencing, but also because under government guidelines, foreign nationals become eligible for deportation 18 months before their earliest release date.
In Nikolova's case, that was halfway through her sentence. It is understood that when she returns to her home country, she will not be jailed by Bulgarian authorities.
The only reason Nikolova has not yet been deported is that the Department for Work and Pensions is still trying to recover some of the money she stole.
Until the confiscation hearings have concluded, Nikolova cannot be sent back.
Prosecutors have been urged to be 'realistic' about what they can expect to recover.
At a hearing at Wood Green Crown Court this week, Ruby Shrimpton, for Nikolova, confirmed that she became eligible for deportation in October and were it not for the confiscation proceedings, that would likely have already happened.
Judge David Aaronberg KC then asked whether Nikolova would serve the rest of her sentence in a Bulgarian prison when she was returned.
Ms Shrimpton replied that she understood she would 'be at liberty' and 'in a position to look after her children'.
The judge replied: 'I had anticipated she would be in custody for many years. It comes as something of a surprise to me that within a period of months, she may be in a position to be deported and reunited with her children.'
He said that Nikolova had been jailed for a 'vast fraud' which she was 'substantially involved in'.
Nikolova, 39, Tsvetka Todorova, 53, Gyunesh Ali, 34, Patritsia Paneva, 27, and Stoyan Stoyanov, 28, were jailed for a combined 25 years in May last year at the Wood Green court.
The gang made false benefits claims for Universal Credit with an array of forged documents that used the identities of real people, who were living in Bulgaria, complicit in the scheme and received a share of the money. They claimed the people were living and working in the UK and were therefore entitled to benefits.
So far, just £1 million of the gang's haul has been recovered. The majority of the money is believed to be with people living in Bulgaria.
The scheme was only uncovered after a lone Bulgarian police officer told British authorities that his home city of Sliven had suddenly become awash with cash and criminals who were 'living like barons'.
Stoyanov, Nikolova's partner, has been released from prison on licence and is also waiting for the confiscation case to finish so he can be deported.
At a previous court hearing, he interrupted proceedings and demanded that he be sent home as he 'had a right to a normal life'.
Speaking via a translator, he said: 'Why is it my family, myself and my wife and our three children – all of whom have health issues – why should we all suffer? Don't we have the right to lead a normal life the way normal people do? Where is the fairness in that?'
Responding to the outburst, Judge Aaronberg said: 'The reality is you don't have the right to a completely normal life because you have been convicted of an extremely serious offence.'
A number of other key members of the gang are believed to still be at large in the UK.
Prosecutors previously said investigations into numerous other individuals were under way.
The DWP has refused to respond to multiple requests asking whether anyone else has been arrested or charged with any offences.