A Roma gypsy who stole at least £113,000 in benefits to fund a life of luxury has been jailed for three years in Britain

Illie Schian, 47, bought sports cars, motorcycles, quad bikes and electrical goods with money he received from British hand-outs. Using taxpayers’ cash, he even built his family a nine-bedroom mansion in Romania, complete with marbled floors, a spa bath, servants’ quarters and two kitchens filled with modern appliances. He is also accused of involvement in a people-smuggling ring that sent around 180 children to Britain to beg and steal. The fraudster amassed a £20,000 nest egg in a Romanian bank account before he was finally caught by police. Schian, from Enfield, North London, applied for political asylum under an assumed name when he arrived in Britain 11 years ago, claiming he had been persecuted in Romania because he is a gypsy. He was granted indefinite leave to remain in the country, but he proceeded to fleece British taxpayers out of tens of thousands in job seekers’ allowance, child benefit and housing benefit before he was arrested in July 2010. The Roma gypsy was jailed for three years after he admitted a string of fraud charges at Southwark Crown Court. The judge recommended Schian should be deported after serving his sentence.