£3.8m Gift Aid fraudster 'had his card marked' by HMP Five Wells inmates
A pastor who defrauded HMRC of £3.8m was targeted by prisoners who thought he was a ‘man of means’.
A gang in HMP Five Wells asked Jamil Sekyani to take care of a mobile phone for them – and when that one was seized, they made him take another.
A court has heard how prisoners at the Wellingborough jail thought Sekyani was ‘well-to-do’ because of the nature of his crimes. The former minister is about to undertake a PHD while behind bars.
Back in 2023, Sekyanzi stood trial as part of a major money laundering scam. As the senior pastor of a London-based Pentecostal church, he inflated the Gift Aid donation income by £18m, cheating HMRC out of £3.8m.
He was given a seven year jail term.
But within a year of being inside, the Ugandan had possession of two secret phones.
Northampton Crown Court heard that officers at HMP Five Wells were using a mobile phone detector on August 25, 2024, when they discovered a signal from the 37-year-old’s cell.
Officers searched the cell and discovered a mobile phone, charging, in his bed.
Then, less than two months later, on October 19, another cell search uncovered a mobile phone behind his TV.
Sekyanzi has six previous convictions, and has a sexual harm prevention order in place from 2018 having unsupervised contact with girls imposed after he was given a nine-year jail term.
The court heard that having a phone in prison created a risk that he could contact a female child.
Sekyanzi pleaded guilty to two offences of possession of a mobile phone inside a prison at magistrates’ court and was brought before Recorder Michael Burrows at Northampton Crown Court for sentence.
He wore an EA7 sweatshirt and appeared by video link.
In mitigation, the court heard that Sekyanzi had arrived as an asylum seeker in the UK in 2005.
His barrister Peter Pride said that in the first five years of his incarceration there had been ‘no issues’.
But after he was tried at Southwark Crown Court and received a further seven year term, he was transferred to HMP Five Wells.
Mr Pride said: “It came to the attention of his fellow inmates that the defendant was in prison for a very significant fraud.
"And from that moment on his card was marked.
"He was seen by the others as a well-to-do individual. They thought he was a man of means.
"Various discussions were had with him that led to various amounts of pressure and threats and he was asked to hold a mobile phone for a gang in prison.
"That phone was seized from him in August 2024. No doubt not being best pleased by it being seized by the prison, a further phone was produced and he was asked to look after it, and that was the phone seized from him in October 2024.”
While in prison, Sekyanzi has completed a masters degree in philosophy and is a peer lead encouraging others to engage in education. He is starting his PHD in September as part of the University of Westminster’s open access arrangements.
Mr Pride added: “He’s a pastor, a minister, and there’s a positive future for him as and when he’s released.”
Sekyanzi’s earliest released date is in 2029.
Recorder Burrows said: “Possession of phones in prison is a serious matter and warrants a custodial sentence.”
Sekyanzi was given an extra six months in prison, to be served consecutively to the sentences he is currently serving.