Fraud investigators have been called in after 15 members of the same family received public aid worth up to £1m and at least three new homes by claiming they lived in a single flat destroyed by the Grenfell Tower fire. 

One of Britain’s most notorious “crash-for-cash” fraudsters, Masi Naqshbandi, is among the relatives rehoused in new properties, including flats in a luxury development in Kensington, west London, furnished by John Lewis. 

The Naqshbandi family insist their main residence before the fire on June 14 last year was a three-bedroom flat on the third floor of Grenfell Tower.  However, only four names are believed to appear on the original tenancy agreement. 

Concerns among council officials grew when some of the relatives started listing the flat as