A man who was spared jail for burglary by falsely telling a judge he had lost all his belongings in the Grenfell fire - racking up a hotel bill of £40,000 - has admitted perverting the course of justice.

Homeless Derrick Peters, 58, also pleaded guilty to fraud at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday (August 23) after getting free four-star hotel accommodation worth thousands of pounds.

His first lie was to Kensington and Chelsea council, by claiming he had been living with a friend who had died in the blaze, but was not there on the night of the fire himself.

As a result, he was put up at the Park Grand Hotel in Kensington between June 28 and January 2018. The cost of the hotel room and room service was more than £40,000.

71 people died in the fire that destroyed a North Kensington tower block last year

While staying there, he burgled a flat in west London in August - stealing more than £3,000 worth of jewellery, computer equipment and speakers.

He later admitted the offence but before he was sentenced, Peters wrote a letter to the judge asking to be treated leniently because of the Grenfell tragedy.

In October he was given a community sentence and returned to the hotel where he had been previously staying.

However, the council become suspicious of Peters’ story as the flat number he claimed to be staying in did not exist. He was not captured on any CCTV footage coming or going from the flat and the daughter of the friend he claimed to be staying with said Peters had never lived with them.

Kate Mulholland, of the CPS, said: “Derrick Peters lied about staying in Grenfell to benefit from aid and assistance meant for true survivors of the fire.

“He then used the same lie to mislead a court and avoid a prison sentence, a serious offence in itself but which also allowed him to continue to defraud the taxpayer by claiming more accommodation.

“Our prosecution was able to prove Peters’ calculated dishonesty leading to the guilty pleas.”