Farah Damji

Farah Damji
Born	9 October 1966 Kampala Uganda
Occupation	Writer, editor, and publisher

Farah Damji is an author, former editor and publisher. Prior to coming into the media spotlight in 2005, for criminal acts, she wrote for mainstream and ethnic media including The Observer and The New Statesman and had a regular column in the Birmingham Post.^[1] She is the daughter of property tycoon Amir Damji, who lives in South Africa and in London; she has two children.^[2]

Damji ran an art gallery in Manhattan and East Hampton from 1992–1995 which showed the early works of Jeremy Deller and famed photo-collagist Peter Beard. In October 1995, she was sentenced to six months in Rikers Island prison, in New York, for five counts of grand larceny, possession of a forged instrument, and altering official records.^[3] She was also given four years' probation and ordered to pay back $72,000 to her major victims.

Damji returned from the United States to the United Kingdom and became the publisher and editor of the lifestyle magazine Another Generation, before it folded.^[1]

On 13 October 2005, Damji was jailed in the UK for three and a half years after pleading guilty to thefts totalling £50,000^[4] and two counts of perverting the course of justice.^[2] The trial had been originally scheduled for February. Before the trial, however, Damji telephoned the main prosecution witness and, pretending to be from the Crown Prosecution Service, told the witness that he did not need to attend court; consequently, the witness did not turn up, and so the trial had to be adjourned.^[2]

She was temporarily released from Downview Prison in Surrey on 22 July 2006, to attend a meeting with her Open University tutor, but did not return as required that same day.^[5] She was re-arrested by police five days later, on 27 July.^[5]

Damji was again arrested in October 2008 on further fraud charges. She pleaded guilty to £17,000 of benefits fraud in July 2009 at Blackfriars Crown Court.^[6] On 29 January 2010, Damji was sentenced to a further 15 months imprisonment.^[7] At the trial, the judge said "The level of dishonesty at every conceivable juncture is so persistent it's the type of case I have never come across before".^{[1][8][9][10]}

Damji has written an autobiography, published under the title Try Me, ISBN 978-1-907188-04-6, in July 2009.^[11]

Damji has borderline personality disorder.^[4] She has sometimes been referred to by newspapers as "London's most dangerous woman".^[8][12]

In 2013 she set up the company Coming Home (Cardiff) to assist young women in finding employment. A launch event at Cardiff Castle raised questions about the nature of the organization and its links to other bodies.^[13]

References