Wanted: Nine-bedroomed council house for the man with three homes

To The outside world, Hamza Adesanu and his family are trapped in an urban hell.

There are 18 of them squeezed into a four-bedroomed London council flat while they wait for new housing.

Doctors, social workers and civil rights groups are urging Hackney Council to grant them a move. They say the family need two new houses with gardens and not on a council estate, or a nine-bedroomed house with a garden.

But, as our exclusive investigation shows, more homes are the last thing Adesanu and his family needs.

The former information officer was sacked by Hackney Council along with his wife three years ago after an internal probe revealed that he secretly owned FOUR private homes dotted around Britain.

Incredibly he still owns two - yet Hackney is allowing him to live in his flat while considering his plea to be given two homes provided by the taxpayer.

Adesanu is shown in land registry records as being the freeholder of a two- bedroomed townhouse in Tottenham, North London, and a flat above a shop in Glasgow.

Last night a Sunday Mirror dossier on 58-year-old Adesanu's mini- property empire was on its way to the police and Hackney Council fraud investigators. For a Nigerian refugee who arrived in Britain in 1970 with nothing to his name, he has not done too badly.

Articulate, educated and fluent in several languages, Adesanu drives a Mercedes saloon.

His 20-stone German-born wife Angelika collects pounds 244 a week in child, housing and invalidity benefits which easily pays the rent on their flat.

According to a statement Adesanu gave in a harassment claim against a neighbour, they do not live alone.

They have 13 children: Hakeem, 33, Naseem, 32, Muideen, 30, Fazil- Illahi, 28, Hama (junior), 24, Swabat, 22, Ayesha, 21, Olu, 13, Angelika (Jr), 12, Selma, nine, Freya, six, Tahira, five, and Kareem, three.

But the list does not end there - the Adesanus are also housing their daughter-in-law Sherifa, 33, and grandchildren Habeeb and Tope.

When the Sunday Mirror confronted the family with our revelations, Mrs Adesanu claimed she and her husband were doing nothing wrong.

She said: "It makes no difference. Even if you own Buckingham Palace, it does not mean council housing should not be made available to you." Asked about records showing her husband owns two private properties, she said: "Even if he owns 200 other houses, it makes no difference. We have always lived in rented accommodation. If we had somewhere else to go, we would go there."

On allegations that her husband was renting out his private properties, she said: "Perhaps there is no income - you should speak to my husband before you open your mouth speaking this rubbish."

Mr Adesanu did not return our calls. But last night Hackney Council launched its own investigation.

A spokesman said: "We are grateful for your information."

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