A Bulgarian woman who was jailed for eight years for her role in the biggest benefit fraud ever uncovered in Britain could be sent home and reunited with her children within months, The Telegraph can reveal.

Galina Nikolova, 39, was sentenced in May 2024 after a gang “systematically plundered” the UK’s welfare system and stole at least £50 million of taxpayer money.

It has now emerged that despite the lengthy sentence, she became eligible for deportation only five months later in October under the early removal scheme and could be free by the summer.

This was partly a result of time served on remand while she awaited sentencing, but also because under government guidelines, foreign nationals become eligible for deportation 18 months before their earliest release date.