Council to spend £70,000 on upgrades to Abu Hamza's £1.7m London home

Hammersmith and Fulham Council has approved a £70,000 refurbishment for a five-bedroom Edwardian council house in Shepherd’s Bush, estimated at £1.7 million, which is currently occupied solely by Najat Chaffe, the 67-year-old wife of imprisoned extremist Abu Hamza. Planned works include new windows, doors, solar panels and loft insulation and fall under a broader programme to upgrade about 1,000 council properties. Council officials argue they are legally obliged to maintain and improve their housing stock, while Conservative opposition leader Jose Afonso called the expenditure “a disgusting waste of public money.”

The property has been controversial since the 1990s, when Chaffe moved in after claiming separation from Hamza, and the council previously refused to force a move to a smaller home despite a long waiting list. Critics highlight the irony of using taxpayer money to improve a home linked to a convicted terrorist serving a life sentence in a U.S. super-max prison. Planning permission has been submitted but not yet approved, with the upgrades expected to be completed before the end of the decade.