Fines & high costs for disabled blue badge fraud

A woman caught using her late father’s disability badge to get free parking has been forced to pay £900 at Enfield Magistrates Court. Helene West, of North Finchley, was taken to court by Enfield Council for using her deceased father's badge which expired in 2005. She was fined £435 and ordered to pay £445 in costs plus a victim surcharge of £15.

Ian Hoy, from Enfield, was fined £290 and ordered to pay costs of £445 and a £15 victim surcharge for altering his badge to make it appear though it was valid even though it had run out in August 2008.

Anastacia Kyriacou, from Edmonton, was fined £66 and ordered to pay costs of £100 and a £15 victim surcharge for using her mother's badge when she was not present.

The council has prosecuted five other people for blue badge fraud since the beginning of September. Enfield’s cabinet member for environment, Terry Neville said:

As far as I am concerned blue badge cheats are like cuckoos who go into other birds’ nests. They are stealing the rightful parking spaces for those in genuine need.

Benefit thief gave himself up

A man who inherited £41,000 from his brother carried on claiming means-tested benefits for more than three years. John Spoors told officials several times he had only a few hundred pounds in savings, Durham Crown Court heard.

"It is accepted the initial claim was genuine," said Susan Hirst, prosecuting. "That was for income support in 1998. Mr Spoors went on to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit." But the claims continued even after he inherited about £41,000 from his brother in 2004. The total over payment of benefits was £37,300.

Paul Cauilfield, defending, said: "Mr Spoors took it upon himself to sort out his finances and went to the Citizens Advice Bureau for help.

"They told him to contact the department and it is to his credit that he did so.

"All the money has since been repaid and he is hopeful of getting a job which will enable him to come off benefits altogether."

Judge John Evans jailed Spoors for 26 weeks, suspended for 12 months, and ordered him to carry out 100 hours of community work.

Benefit fraud rises

The DWP has released updated figures for losses due to benefit fraud and error. The official tale is that £3bn was overpaid through fraud and error in the year to March 2009. Within this total, the government figure for benefit fraud is up - not that you'd know it from the publicity - from some £860m to £1.1bn.

The latest fraud numbers are on our website. We maintain our view that the total for benefit fraud alone will be about £3.5bn. The government estimate for customer and official error is £1.9bn - expect it to be on the low side.

We're probably looking at a total of £6bn plus a year.

Poppy collector was benefit thief

In February we told of Bernard McCartin, the former mayor of Horwich, who received a trivial punishment for benefit fraud of £18,000. Read his shame here.

Now he's got himself back in the news. The local news reports that "a poppy-selling veteran was thrown out of a supermarket after customers complained because they recognised him as a convicted benefits cheat". And indeed it is Mr McCartin.

On Tuesday, he set up his stall in Asda, Middlebrook, to sell poppies for the Royal British Legion’s annual remembrance appeal, as he has done for the past four years. He and his wife had been sitting at the table for about two hours when a member of staff, accompanied by a security guard, approached him.

The shameless Mr McCartin clearly thinks they were in the wrong: “One of the managers said ‘We’ve had a few complaints about your past and we’re going to have to ask you to leave’.

“I didn’t argue with them. I just packed up and left. I couldn’t get out quick enough because I nearly lost my rag. I was absolutely gobsmacked.”

Asda said the store received six complaints about Mr McCartin in the first 40 minutes he was there.

Asked about those who complained, he said: “I think they’re petty-minded.”

He says of his benefit cheat conviction: “It’s all over with. It’s finished. Done. Forgotten.” When a politician says it's time to move on, be sure it is not.

He may have a background collecting for the Legion, but people are entitled to protest when they invited to give money to a convicted thief - and an apparently unrepentant one at that.

Mr McCartin had arranged to collect at Asda every day this week, and he was there all day Monday without any problems. He has already filled about 30 tins this year, all of which are sealed. He said: “I’ve got paperwork for all the tins. Every penny is accounted for.”

Asda were diplomatic. A spokesman said: “Because of Mr McCartin’s conviction earlier in the year, a number of customers expressed concerns about him when they saw him collecting in store. We asked him to leave while we investigated.”

The RBL is arranging for another collector at Asda.

htp Dave

Light sentence for £28k benefit fraud

A benefit cheat made a grave mistake conning taxpayers out of £28,782 between April 2001 and August 2008 by claiming he was too ill to work – while he had a job as a pall bearer.

Vincent Storey, from Sunderland, worked at a funeral directors and topped-up his earnings by fraudulently claiming £327 in incapacity benefits every month.

He had legitimately claimed benefits when he initially stopped working, but then got a job as a driver and pall bearer at a funeral directors while continuing to claim state handouts.

The judge sentenced him to 16 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours' unpaid work and repay the money he had fraudulently claimed. Storey told the court he would be able to make the payments, but would have to remortgage his home to stump up some of the cash.

DWP bosses today said they hoped the sentence served as a warning to other benefit cheats who consider stealing from society, adding that all cash falsely claimed will always have to be paid back in full.

• Not good enough. These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud should have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.
  
  Theresa May, please note. Taxpayers lose around £3.5bn a year to benefit fraud.

Jail for £36k benefit fraud

Shannon Matthews' so called aunt, Amanda Hyett, has been jailed for a year after admitting benefit fraud amounting to £35,885.

£4k benefit thief absconded

Kerry Loxham, formerly from Fenstanton, received a 12-month community order at Huntingdon Magistrates' Court last week, and was required to complete 120 hours of unpaid work, on two charges of benefit fraud between January and November 2008.

The court heard that Loxham, who now lives in Yorkshire, made a legitimate claim for benefit in 2007 when she declared that she was an unemployed lone parent. In late 2008 she reported to the council that she had started work for a local bakery, but declared the work only from the end of October 2008.

Suspicion arose about the date, and an investigation revealed that she had started work in January 2008. She had been overpaid £3,994 in housing and Council Tax benefits.

The magistrates were reminded that Loxham had been due to attend court in June this year, but failed to attend a number of hearings. The matter was eventually heard in her absence and she was found guilty based on the evidence presented to the court. An arrest warrant for her attendance to be sentenced was issued, but not served until September because she had left her property in Fenstanton, without telling the authorities, to move to Yorkshire.

Michelle Cheatle, for Loxham, said her client deeply regretted her actions and accepted that she had been at fault. She also accepted that she should have reported leaving the Fenstanton address, but did not because of personal issues. Miss Cheatle added that, if her client had attended court as required, she would have pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

In addition to the community order, Loxham was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £640. She will also have to repay all the benefits overpaid.

It is estimated that benefit fraud costs Huntingdonshire District Council over £500,000 every year.

Trivial punishment for repeat benefit thief

Parminder Singh, formerly of Lauderdale Crescent, Longsight, claimed £9,062 in Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Income Support and Jobseeker Allowance.

Singh fraudulently obtaining the cash from Manchester council and the DWP between February 2000 and May 2001, after failing to disclose she was living with, and subsequently married, her partner.

She also pleaded guilty to further offences, between September 2006 and April 2008, after failing to declare that she lived with her husband and owned a number of properties with him.

Singh was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, by Manchester magistrates, and a three month curfew order. She must pay £150 in court costs.

Manchester women fined for blue badge fraud

Jennifer Moore was found guilty of the fraud charge in her absence after she failed to turn up to a hearing at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday October 28. She was fined £525 with £392 costs along with a £15 victims of crime surcharge.

A member of Manchester City Council's blue badge team spotted the badge, displayed on the dashboard of Moore's Vauxhall, parked on Harter Street in May. They examined the badge, discovering it had been issued to her father and expired at the end of 2003.

Meanwhile, Sandra Monahan, from Openshaw, pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of a blue badge.
She was fined £270 with £150 costs and a £15 victim of crime surcharge.

A City Council officer spotted the badge displayed on the dashboard of Monahan's Ford, as it was parked on Charlotte Street in April, and discovered it had been issued to her father William, who died several years ago. Monahan later admitted she had altered the badge's expiry date.

Benefit thieves sentenced

Mohammed Aslam and Afshan Ishaq have been sentenced.

The judge sentenced Mohammed Aslam to 27 months jail. In addition he will have to pay a £31,477 confiscation order or face a further year behind bars, and contribute £10,000 towards prosecution costs.

Dealing with Ishaq, the Judge said he could suspend the six month prison sentence he was imposing because, amongst other things, she had two children and it was clear her co-defendant "instigated" the fraud. But she would also have to pay £500 towards prosecution costs and carry out 100 hours unpaid work.