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 A New True Crime Series On The Grenfell Tower Con-Artist Just Dropped

A New True Crime Series On The Grenfell Tower Con-Artist Just Dropped

Delve into the chilling case of a con-man who exploited a tragedy.

Mary-Jane Wiltsher

Mary-Jane Wiltsher

A new true crime series on the Grenfell Tower con-artist who exploited one of the UK's worst disasters just dropped - and it looks like gripping viewing.

Faking It: Tears of a Crime, which aired on Quest Red this week and is now available to watch for free online via Deplay, delves into the disturbing case of Ahn Nhu Nguyen.

In the aftermath of 2017's Grenfell tragedy, which took the lives of 72 people and was Britain's worst residential fire since the Second World War, Nguyen claimed that his wife and son had tragically perished in the fire.

As the nation came together to grieve and raise funds for the relief effort, Prince Charles visited the site to meet some of the survivors - one of which was Nguyen.

Con-man Ahn Nhu Nguyen even met with Prince Charles (
Quest Red)

Nguyen subsequently appearing on national television to share his heart-breaking tale, and registered a £12,500 claim for funds set aside for survivors.

In fact, the con-man had faked his entire story. He didn't live in Grenfell Tower; he didn't even live in West London.

In reality, Nguyen exploited a tragedy that destroyed lives in order to to pocket funds.

In Faking It: Tears of a Crime, a panel of British experts Nguyen's TV interviews frame-by-frame, commenting on body language and speech, to reveal the moment he gave himself away.

Nguyen spoke with Sky News about how his wife and son had died in the fire, describing how he had scrambled down the tower's stairwell, passing dead bodies on his escape.

Talking about the footage, body language expert Cliff Lansley said: "Every significant action where [Nguyen's] trying to convince you 'I was there, I was covering my head, I was running down the stairs,' you'll see the exaggeration from his hands.

Langsley continued: "His eyes never move from the interviewer. Now, that's unusual.

"It's polite to look at the person who's speaking, but in normal conversations you'd be looking away, you'd be accessing your memory. He's focusing on the interviewer, and that's unusual in truthful statements.

Eventually, Nguyen' lies caught up with him when police realised police there was no sign of him entering or exiting the block of flats on CCTV footage in the month prior to the disaster.

Added to that, Nguyen had even written down two different addresses on his claim form.

(
Red Quest)

"When the Police went to check out addresses, it turned out that he'd never lived there and that nobody had ever heard of him," Forensic Psychologist Kerry Daynes explains. "It was always going to be discovered that he had not lived at Grenfell Tower, it was always going to come to light that he was a fraudster."

At his trial, Nguyen pleaded guilty and was jailed for 21 months.

Red Quest's Faking It: Tears of a Crime is now available to watch online via Deplay.

Featured Image Credit: Quest Red

Topics: TV and Film, True Crime, TV News, TV Entertainment