A fraudster who cheated her way to more than £3,000 in benefits was handed a community order at Aylesbury Magistrates' Court this week.
Sandra Bacon was given a one-year community order and ordered to undertake 60 hours unpaid work....
htp Dave
29 May 2009
£25k benefits thief escapes jail
A benefits cheat was spared an immediate jail term when she appeared in court on her 60th birthday.
Pauline May, from Leicester, dishonestly claimed housing and council tax benefit for almost nine years by failing to declare that family friend, Alan Prentice, was living with her.
She pleaded guilty to six charges of benefit fraud at an earlier hearing. Each offence carries a maximum custodial sentence of seven years or an unlimited fine.
There was a total loss to the public purse of £24,631. She is now repaying the debt at £142 a month.
Sentencing, Judge Michael Pert said this was a "catalogue of dishonesty". Acknowledging her age, poor health and arrangement to repay the debt, she was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, with supervision.
Pauline May, from Leicester, dishonestly claimed housing and council tax benefit for almost nine years by failing to declare that family friend, Alan Prentice, was living with her.
She pleaded guilty to six charges of benefit fraud at an earlier hearing. Each offence carries a maximum custodial sentence of seven years or an unlimited fine.
There was a total loss to the public purse of £24,631. She is now repaying the debt at £142 a month.
Sentencing, Judge Michael Pert said this was a "catalogue of dishonesty". Acknowledging her age, poor health and arrangement to repay the debt, she was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, with supervision.
Piffling sentence for old offence
A Barwell woman, who said she had no money of her own while she was claiming benefits, had over £50,000 in different bank accounts.
But Samantha Brogden paid the price for her dishonesty when she appeared before Hinckley magistrates on Thursday 21 May. After pleading guilty to dishonestly making a false statement in order to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, she was fined £275 and ordered to pay costs of £170 to the Borough Council.
The court heard that Brogden was overpaid Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit amounting to £4,610 between 21st June 2004 and 10th October 2005 – an amount that she will now have to repay in full.
When she was interviewed under caution, Brogden repeatedly lied to the interviewing officer about having the money. She said she had no other accounts and only admitted the truth when the officer presented her with the hard evidence.
When she was asked what she thought would have happened to her claims if she had been honest about her accounts, Brogden said she thought that the council would probably have thought she had too much money to claim.
In sentencing her, the magistrate said that although her claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit were initially legitimate, she dishonestly embarked upon a planned and deliberate fraud after coming into the undeclared money.
Brogden had ignored several opportunities to declare the capital, and it was the magistrate’s opinion that she had done this in order to obtain benefit to which she wasn’t entitled.
htp Dave
But Samantha Brogden paid the price for her dishonesty when she appeared before Hinckley magistrates on Thursday 21 May. After pleading guilty to dishonestly making a false statement in order to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, she was fined £275 and ordered to pay costs of £170 to the Borough Council.
The court heard that Brogden was overpaid Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit amounting to £4,610 between 21st June 2004 and 10th October 2005 – an amount that she will now have to repay in full.
When she was interviewed under caution, Brogden repeatedly lied to the interviewing officer about having the money. She said she had no other accounts and only admitted the truth when the officer presented her with the hard evidence.
When she was asked what she thought would have happened to her claims if she had been honest about her accounts, Brogden said she thought that the council would probably have thought she had too much money to claim.
In sentencing her, the magistrate said that although her claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit were initially legitimate, she dishonestly embarked upon a planned and deliberate fraud after coming into the undeclared money.
Brogden had ignored several opportunities to declare the capital, and it was the magistrate’s opinion that she had done this in order to obtain benefit to which she wasn’t entitled.
htp Dave
£45k benefits cheat jailed
A benefits cheat mother-of-four has been jailed for 12 months for ripping off £45,355 from the taxpayer between April 2003 and March 2007.
Martine Smorthit, 36, renewed her claim for Income Support as a lone parent only six weeks before she married her husband Mark, ten years her junior.
htp Dave
Martine Smorthit, 36, renewed her claim for Income Support as a lone parent only six weeks before she married her husband Mark, ten years her junior.
htp Dave
28 May 2009
Benefits cheat gets community service
A woman who falsely claimed almost £6,800 in housing benefits as a single parent has been sentenced to 150 hours of community service.
Hastings magistrates heard Nicole Pace, from Bexhill, failed to declare her landlord was also her husband and father to the two children on which the claim was based.
Magistrates sentenced her to community punishment, instructed she attend three 'signpost' education sessions and ordered her to pay £200 costs.
A spokesman for Rother District Council said: "This case once again proves that you cannot beat the system and that benefits cheats will be caught." Which as we know is tripe.
htp Dave
Hastings magistrates heard Nicole Pace, from Bexhill, failed to declare her landlord was also her husband and father to the two children on which the claim was based.
Magistrates sentenced her to community punishment, instructed she attend three 'signpost' education sessions and ordered her to pay £200 costs.
A spokesman for Rother District Council said: "This case once again proves that you cannot beat the system and that benefits cheats will be caught." Which as we know is tripe.
htp Dave
Poor benefit fraud numbers from West Norfolk
West Norfolk Council have reviewed their performance in detecting benefit fraud - the report to the council is here.
The Lynn News focuses on concern expressed over costs awarded -
Well, not quite true.
Fraud was proved with evidence to the level required for a prosecution in 54 cases. There were 13,500 claimants, so that's an achievement of a tiny 0.4%.
The amount identified for recovery was £228,000 - again a tiny proportion, at 0.58% of the £39m total.
The 4-strong fraud team at West Norfolk may be covering its costs, but its success in combating benefit fraud looks fairly nominal.
The Lynn News focuses on concern expressed over costs awarded -
Borough councillor Roy Groom told the council’s resources and performance panel audit and risk committee that he was “astounded” that the courts only awarded the authority £100 in costs as a general rule.The council recovers about 40% of the money received in overpayments by people cheating the benefits system, says the paper.
He referred to external solicitors’ charges per hour and said the council’s benefits investigation officers had to prepare the details for each prosecution and make out a strong case, which took time.
And Mr Groom said that in some instances the council not only paid for the costs of the prosecution but also an amount of the victims’ costs.
He said the officers should “challenge the courts” and appeal the amount awarded in prosecution costs. He considered each case should be decided on its own merits – and the costs should reflect this.
Well, not quite true.
Fraud was proved with evidence to the level required for a prosecution in 54 cases. There were 13,500 claimants, so that's an achievement of a tiny 0.4%.
The amount identified for recovery was £228,000 - again a tiny proportion, at 0.58% of the £39m total.
The 4-strong fraud team at West Norfolk may be covering its costs, but its success in combating benefit fraud looks fairly nominal.
27 May 2009
Benefit thieves prosecuted in Crewe
Thomas Bergin has been jailed for four months by South Cheshire Magistrates after admitting falsely obtaining benefits totalling more than £22,000 over nine years. He submitted false benefit claim forms and forged information from his employer stating that he was earning less than his true wage.
In addition to receiving a prison sentence, Bergin is still liable to repay the overpaid benefit to the council.
Magistrates also sentenced Sara Jones to three months imprisonment suspended for 12 months for failing to report a change of circumstance which affected her benefit claims. She was also given a two-month curfew order to remain in her home between the hours of 7pm and 7am.
She was earlier found guilty of failing to declare the receipt of £30,000 capital which led to her receiving an overpayment of £7,032 in housing benefit, Council Tax benefit and Income Support from December 2007.
She was prosecuted in July 2008 in respect of benefits offences concerning the failure to report a partner in her household. The subsequent investigation revealed the undeclared capital which she had received prior to the prosecution. In addition to repaying the overpaid benefits, the Court ordered Jones to pay the council’s costs totaling £1,060.
In addition to receiving a prison sentence, Bergin is still liable to repay the overpaid benefit to the council.
Magistrates also sentenced Sara Jones to three months imprisonment suspended for 12 months for failing to report a change of circumstance which affected her benefit claims. She was also given a two-month curfew order to remain in her home between the hours of 7pm and 7am.
She was earlier found guilty of failing to declare the receipt of £30,000 capital which led to her receiving an overpayment of £7,032 in housing benefit, Council Tax benefit and Income Support from December 2007.
She was prosecuted in July 2008 in respect of benefits offences concerning the failure to report a partner in her household. The subsequent investigation revealed the undeclared capital which she had received prior to the prosecution. In addition to repaying the overpaid benefits, the Court ordered Jones to pay the council’s costs totaling £1,060.
26 May 2009
£167k in the bank but she still wanted benefits
A Moray woman who cheated taxpayers out of £3,032 in benefits when she had nearly £167,000 in the bank has been fined and ordered to pay back much of the money.
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Stupid benefit cheat crows on the web
A mother who fraudulently claimed thousands of pounds in single parent benefits was caught after boasting she was happily married – on Facebook and Friends Reunited.
Claire Harborne from Coventry received £6,519 in housing benefits and council tax after telling the authorities she was a single mum.
But council officers caught her out when they found a message on her Friends Reunited profile and another on Facebook telling how she was wed. Another networker had tipped off the authorities and Harborne, who lives with her husband Michael and their eight-year-old daughter was nabbed.
She admitted fraud and was handed a one year community order and 120 hours of community service.
Claire Harborne from Coventry received £6,519 in housing benefits and council tax after telling the authorities she was a single mum.
But council officers caught her out when they found a message on her Friends Reunited profile and another on Facebook telling how she was wed. Another networker had tipped off the authorities and Harborne, who lives with her husband Michael and their eight-year-old daughter was nabbed.
She admitted fraud and was handed a one year community order and 120 hours of community service.
25 May 2009
Benefit appeals not properly contested
Benefit claimants suspected of abusing the system are being handed back millions of pounds in docked welfare payments because the Government is failing to contest their appeals, reports The Telegraph.
In three out of four tribunals, where claimants contested moves to reduce benefit payments or sought to have their handouts increased, no welfare officials turned up to fight the case. [See here for examples.]And what does this machinery cost us? Who pays for the tribunals and the lawyers?
Benefits lawyers admit the situation is helping their clients to win cases they might otherwise have lost. Nearly one in two appeals were successful last year compared to one in three back in 2001.
The extra benefits paid to claimants who win at tribunals cost taxpayers an estimated £150 million a year.
The revelations will prove embarrassing to ministers, who claim they are cracking down on welfare dependency and benefit fraud, in a bid to cut the spiralling welfare bill.
Reporters from The Sunday Telegraph attended 25 tribunals in London, Oxford, Manchester and Watford over the last three weeks.
At 23 there was no official from the Department of Work and Pensions or the local authority present. In 15 of these cases the claimant won; six were thrown out; and two adjourned.
At one hearing, a 48-year-old recovering heroin addict who suffered from a bad back, appealed against the decision by the DWP to cut his benefits from the maximum amount of £86 per week to £48.40.
He was fit enough to cycle two miles to the tribunal but still won his case and was awarded backdated payments to make up for missed claims.
In another hearing, a 67-year-old woman, who claimed she suffered from depression and could not get out of bed until 2pm, saw her payments more than double, despite the doubts of the tribunal judge, who said – after hearing her evidence – that an increase was not justified.
However, a friend then spoke on the woman's behalf explaining that she was down playing the seriousness of her condition. There was no one to speak up for the DWP, and the judge changed her mind.
The woman's disability living allowance was increased from £18.65 to £47.10.
In a third case, DWP officials reduced the amount of disability living allowance paid to a woman with epilepsy from £61.62 a week to £17 a week because the frequency of her attacks had reduced, but with no official present to make the department's case, the panel told her: "The DWP are failing in their duty to you". Her payment of £61.62 was reinstated.
Last night, Theresa May, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "Under James Purnell's watch chaos and confusion reign in the department of work and pensions
"The department should be sending out a strong message to benefit cheats. Instead it appears that some people could be cheating the system because this government can't even be bothered to have someone present at a benefit hearing.
"One thing is for sure, the public shouldn't be footing the bill for labour's incompetence."
One tribunal judge, who asked not to be named, said: "A lot of money is being squandered. We must be talking about millions.
"The DWP is trying to cut costs by not sending presenting officers, but they haven't taken into account how much money they are losing by not being there."
Bill McCormack, who works for Dumfries Welfare Rights said: "It is very rare for a presenting officer to turn up. More often than not when a presenting officer isn't there we have won the case.
"The presenting officers not being there is a positive for the claimants."
Jackie Cowee, a welfare rights expert with the Manchester law firm Allington Hughes said: "All the years I have been doing this you can count on one hand the number of times a presenting officer has turned up.
"I see their absence as entirely positive. When they are there they can put a large spanner in the works and I can do without that."
Nationally, figures from the tribunals service show the DWP, which administers claims for incapacity, child and jobseekers' allowance, sent officials to just 23 per cent of appeal hearings last year compared to more than 40 per cent in 2001.
Over the same period, the number of successful appeals against the DWP and local councils, which administer housing benefit and council tax discounts, has risen from 36 per cent to 42 per cent - almost 100,000 cases.
The Sunday Telegraph found that successful claimants typically see their payments increased by at least £30 a week, pointing to a national total of more than £150 million a year.
Officials – known as presenting officers – are even failing to show up for hearings where claimants have been overpaid tens of thousands of pounds in public funds and are trying to avoid paying it back.
It means there is no one at the hearings to make the taxpayer's case to the independent judge whereas the claimant will often be represented by a lawyer.
Robert Martin, president of the Appeals Tribunals, has criticised the trend.
He wrote in his most recent annual report: "The importance of the Secretary of State being represented at the tribunal hearing has been stressed not only repeatedly in these reports, but also by the Social Security Commissioners and by the department's own standards committee.
"Yet there has been a steady decline in the percentage of appeal hearings attended by a presenter officer."
Last year, Nick Wikeley, a tribunal judge criticised the DWP and a local authority for failing to attend a hearing brought by a woman who was resisting demands to return more than £40,000 in income support and more than £20,000 in housing benefit which had been erroneously paid to her.
Mr Wikeley dismissed the woman's appeal but wrote in his ruling: "In cases such as the present appeal, involving a series of very substantial overpayments, it seems to me to be at the very least highly desirable that a presenting officer attends."
He said the failure of the council to attend on cost grounds displayed an attitude "bordering on contempt for the judicial process."
Mark Wallace, campaigns director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It's scandalous that despite all the rhetoric in Westminster about the tight oversight of the welfare system, on the ground officials cannot be bothered to attend these important tribunals.
"If welfare is being withdrawn, taxpayers have a right to be represented by someone putting the case for withdrawal and the claimants have the right to have their case properly heard.
"This kind of laxity lets down everyone involved and suggests that much of the talk of reform is just hot air."
A DWP spokesman said: "In every case the Department's written response to the appeal explains clearly why the decision was made and includes all the evidence which has been considered. Where the decision under appeal is complex, a presenting officer will be present."
Light sentences for benefit fraud in Dudley
Stephanie Perry, aged 21 of Byron Street, Pensnett, fraudulently claimed £3,500 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support between August 2007 and April 2008, after failing to declare that her partner had moved in with her.
She pleaded guilty to benefit fraud at Dudley magistrates court on April 21 and was given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 towards court costs.
Sarah Farrow, aged 22 of Dibdale Court, Yorkdale Close, Lower Gornal, fraudulently claimed £700 in housing benefit and council tax benefit between March and May 2008.
Data-matching between different government computer databases alerted the council that Farrows income had changed. Council fraud investigators attempted to interview Farrow, but she failed to attend.
Farrow pleaded guilty to benefit fraud at Dudley magistrates court on April 28. She was given a 12-month conditional discharge, ordered to pay compensation to the council of £700 and £100 towards court costs.
Robert James, aged 59 of Blackhorse Lane, Brierley Hill, fraudulently claimed more than £1,300 in council tax benefit between September 2004 and September 2008. James continued to claim benefits after failing to declare the actual amount of savings he had to the council, as well as a pension he failed to declare and ownership of a property abroad.
James pleaded guilty at Dudley magistrates court on April 28 this year and was fined £400 and ordered to pay £295 towards court costs.
Richard James, aged 22 of High Street, Brockmoor, fraudulently claimed £2,200 in housing benefit and council tax benefit between June 2007 and April 2008. James failed to let the council know about his ex-partner and child living with him and failed to attend several interviews with council fraud investigators.
He appeared before Dudley magistrates court on April 27 where he pleaded guilty to benefit fraud. He was given a 12-month community order and told to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work in the community. He was also ordered to pay £150 towards court costs.
In each case, the council is seeking to recover all of the overpaid benefit.
She pleaded guilty to benefit fraud at Dudley magistrates court on April 21 and was given an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 towards court costs.
Sarah Farrow, aged 22 of Dibdale Court, Yorkdale Close, Lower Gornal, fraudulently claimed £700 in housing benefit and council tax benefit between March and May 2008.
Data-matching between different government computer databases alerted the council that Farrows income had changed. Council fraud investigators attempted to interview Farrow, but she failed to attend.
Farrow pleaded guilty to benefit fraud at Dudley magistrates court on April 28. She was given a 12-month conditional discharge, ordered to pay compensation to the council of £700 and £100 towards court costs.
Robert James, aged 59 of Blackhorse Lane, Brierley Hill, fraudulently claimed more than £1,300 in council tax benefit between September 2004 and September 2008. James continued to claim benefits after failing to declare the actual amount of savings he had to the council, as well as a pension he failed to declare and ownership of a property abroad.
James pleaded guilty at Dudley magistrates court on April 28 this year and was fined £400 and ordered to pay £295 towards court costs.
Richard James, aged 22 of High Street, Brockmoor, fraudulently claimed £2,200 in housing benefit and council tax benefit between June 2007 and April 2008. James failed to let the council know about his ex-partner and child living with him and failed to attend several interviews with council fraud investigators.
He appeared before Dudley magistrates court on April 27 where he pleaded guilty to benefit fraud. He was given a 12-month community order and told to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work in the community. He was also ordered to pay £150 towards court costs.
In each case, the council is seeking to recover all of the overpaid benefit.
Hardly a leg to stand on
BALDING bodypopper Fred Bowers was being probed for benefit fraud last night — as it emerged the Britain’s Got Talent sensation is coining it in disability handouts, reports The Sun.
The breakdancing pensioner, 73, gets £70-a-week on top of his state pension — AND a free car — after persuading officials he has a gammy left leg.
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The breakdancing pensioner, 73, gets £70-a-week on top of his state pension — AND a free car — after persuading officials he has a gammy left leg.
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No jail for £23k fraud
Collette O’Sullivan, from Luton, has been convicted on four charges of benefit fraud by giving the Council false and misleading information to obtain housing benefit.
Between April 2004 and March 2007 she completed four benefit application forms for housing benefit claiming she was living in privately rented accommodation. But she was living with her partner and father of her children and not privately renting the properties as she claimed. Easy, really.
By furnishing false and misleading information she dishonestly obtained benefit totalling £23,808.
O’Sullivan was sentenced to a 2 year Community Order requiring she undertakes 200 hours of unpaid work. The matter is now subject to a Confiscation Hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act to be heard at Luton Crown Court on Friday, 26th June.
Between April 2004 and March 2007 she completed four benefit application forms for housing benefit claiming she was living in privately rented accommodation. But she was living with her partner and father of her children and not privately renting the properties as she claimed. Easy, really.
By furnishing false and misleading information she dishonestly obtained benefit totalling £23,808.
O’Sullivan was sentenced to a 2 year Community Order requiring she undertakes 200 hours of unpaid work. The matter is now subject to a Confiscation Hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act to be heard at Luton Crown Court on Friday, 26th June.
23 May 2009
Trivial sentence for £60k benefit fraud
Effectively this benefit thief has got off scot free.
A mother who fraudulently claimed £60,377 in benefits and spent the money on doing up her house was told by a court to pay back just £20 a week.
Lisa Badlam, 39, falsely claimed income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit for five and a half years. She maintained she was a single mother but was in fact living with her husband David Badlam, whom she had married in 2006.
She used some of the money to improve her home in Horfield, Bristol, and spent the rest on her five children.
Mr Badlam was taking home £2,500 a month working as a port operative and was diagnosed with cancer in February 2008 and the couple had mounting debts.
Recorder James Watson QC imposed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
She was ordered to pay back the money at £20 per week and was also given a curfew order forcing her to stay indoors between 8pm and 8am.
But she was not ordered to pay anything towards the £1,556 prosecution costs nor will she have to do any unpaid work for the community.
Mrs Badlam, who is unemployed, will instead have to attend a course of employment training and education.
The court heard that Mrs Bedlam had already begun paying back the income support at a rate of £40 a month in February, is due to set up a £40-a-month direct debit for the housing benefit, and the council tax owed is in the hands of the bailiffs.
A mother who fraudulently claimed £60,377 in benefits and spent the money on doing up her house was told by a court to pay back just £20 a week.
Lisa Badlam, 39, falsely claimed income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit for five and a half years. She maintained she was a single mother but was in fact living with her husband David Badlam, whom she had married in 2006.
She used some of the money to improve her home in Horfield, Bristol, and spent the rest on her five children.
Mr Badlam was taking home £2,500 a month working as a port operative and was diagnosed with cancer in February 2008 and the couple had mounting debts.
Recorder James Watson QC imposed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
She was ordered to pay back the money at £20 per week and was also given a curfew order forcing her to stay indoors between 8pm and 8am.
But she was not ordered to pay anything towards the £1,556 prosecution costs nor will she have to do any unpaid work for the community.
Mrs Badlam, who is unemployed, will instead have to attend a course of employment training and education.
The court heard that Mrs Bedlam had already begun paying back the income support at a rate of £40 a month in February, is due to set up a £40-a-month direct debit for the housing benefit, and the council tax owed is in the hands of the bailiffs.
Fraudster's sentence cut
A hard-up grandmother whose struggle with debt drove her to work under a false name while claiming more than £20,000 in benefits has won a cut in her jail term on appeal.But the judge didn't. She stole for several years because she wanted a better lifestyle.
Dawn Wright, from Northampton, claimed her ceaseless battle to make ends meet forced her to take a job in 2005, while still claiming her housing and council tax benefits, as well as income support.
After she was found out, she attempted suicide and was diagnosed with depression.
She admitted two counts of dishonestly failing to notify the authorities of a change in her circumstances and was jailed for nine months at Northampton Crown Court in April this year.
The total amount she claimed falsely was £22,500 over a two-and-a-half-year period.
However, three judges have cut her sentence to six months at London's Criminal Appeal Court, saying Wright had not used the money for luxuries, but to help her family.
Lord Justice Goldring, sitting with Mr Justice McCombe and Sir Peter Cresswell, said Wright – who helped care for her daughter's three children – had also started paying the money back, at a rate of £100 per month.
Allowing her appeal and reducing her sentence, Lord Justice Goldring said Wright had admitted her crime at an early stage and, to begin with, her benefit claims had been legitimate.
"In those circumstances, the court could properly have imposed a sentence shorter than nine months," the judge concluded.
No jail for £17k benefit fraud
A deliberate fraud of £17,000 ... but you love your child so you needn't go to prison.
A single mother who cheated the benefits system out of thousands of pounds while partly living in Spain has dodged a jail sentence.
Georgia Parsons, 40, pocketed more than £17,000 in housing benefit and council tax benefit she was not entitled to over a two-year period from 2006.
She was claiming the benefits lawfully after moving into a flat in Brighton, East Sussex, in May 2005 with a rent of £650 a month.
But the following year she sub-let the flat to Polish tenants, charging them a £600 deposit and around £600-a-month in rent after telling them she owned it.
Prosecutor Roger Booth told Lewes Crown Court that she continued to claim the housing and council tax benefits while spending most her time living in Spain and in a caravan while in England.
Parsons also forged a letter from her own landlord, telling Brighton and Hove City Council her tenancy had been extended by 12 months so she could continue her scam.
Mr Booth said that when she was interviewed, Parsons initially claimed that the letter was from her landlord but later admitted she had forged it.
Parsons, who lives in Brighton, pleaded guilty last month to three charges of benefit fraud after the court heard her cheating amounted to £17,722.
Defence counsel Alissa Scott-Beckett said Parsons' actions were motivated by a desire to offer a better life for her daughter, now aged 11.
She said: "At the time of the offences, Ms Parsons felt isolated in the community around her and she recognises this stems from issues in her childhood.
"As a result she felt that the best thing for her was to leave the country with her daughter. Ms Parsons' sole purpose in all of this was to take care of her daughter.
"Ms Parsons went to Spain, thinking this would be a better environment for her daughter. The money was used to fund that lifestyle, it certainly wasn't an extravagant or luxurious lifestyle."
Ms Scott-Beckett said since her return to Britain, Parsons has sought to address her problems and is looking for part-time work.
Parsons broke down in tears as Judge Michael Lawson QC sentenced her to a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, to run concurrent on each count.
The judge told her: "You behaved and continued on a false and dishonest basis, claiming from the taxpayers of Brighton and Hove money to which you were not entitled.
"The amount you obtained was nearly £18,000 and I take the view that extended period of dishonesty and the forgery of the document was deliberate conduct.
"I understand your love of your child and in those circumstances the sentence will be suspended for two years." In addition, the judge ordered her to serve 100 hours of unpaid work.
22 May 2009
80 hours' unpaid work for £2.5k fraud
Andrew Barber, from Hambleton, claimed Housing and Council Tax Benefit while he was in full time work. However, he was living with his partner who was also working.
Another "unique" case for leniency
A lone parent caring for three young children was paid more than £34,000 when he made legitimate claims for benefit eight years ago, a court was told.
But Adrian Wadley failed to declare his earnings when he found a job and continued to draw money.
Mr Wadley, from Shelsley Walsh, near Worcester, pleaded guilty to false representation to obtain benefit.
But in what he described as “unusual and unique circumstances” Judge Alistair McCreath suspended a 52-week jail sentence for two years and imposed 240 hours of unpaid work.
The judge said that almost every case brought by the DWP involving the theft of public money would result in significant custody - which we know is not true.
But in the case of Wadley, it would mean he would lose his job and his home and would be unable to support his widowed and disabled mother and be a carer for his 15-year-old son.
Mr Wadley was overpaid £34,291 in unemployment benefit and for council tax relief. But it had been calculated that he was entitled to £11,690, so the net loss was about £22,000.
He had already paid back £4,000.
Adam Western, defending, said Wadley was a specialist worker for a leather firm and was an essential member of a small team.
He had not used the money to lead a high life but “to keep body and soul together.” His claim had started as genuine.
He was a man of good character and many people spoke of his kindnesses and selflessness.
Two of the older children had left home but he was still the carer for the youngest.
Mr Western submitted references to show that Wadley was trusted and had a polite, gentlemanly nature.
Judge McCreath said he accepted Wadley was a man with many good virtues but public money had been stolen and the public needed to know that benefit cheats would not be tolerated.
But Adrian Wadley failed to declare his earnings when he found a job and continued to draw money.
Mr Wadley, from Shelsley Walsh, near Worcester, pleaded guilty to false representation to obtain benefit.
But in what he described as “unusual and unique circumstances” Judge Alistair McCreath suspended a 52-week jail sentence for two years and imposed 240 hours of unpaid work.
The judge said that almost every case brought by the DWP involving the theft of public money would result in significant custody - which we know is not true.
But in the case of Wadley, it would mean he would lose his job and his home and would be unable to support his widowed and disabled mother and be a carer for his 15-year-old son.
Mr Wadley was overpaid £34,291 in unemployment benefit and for council tax relief. But it had been calculated that he was entitled to £11,690, so the net loss was about £22,000.
He had already paid back £4,000.
Adam Western, defending, said Wadley was a specialist worker for a leather firm and was an essential member of a small team.
He had not used the money to lead a high life but “to keep body and soul together.” His claim had started as genuine.
He was a man of good character and many people spoke of his kindnesses and selflessness.
Two of the older children had left home but he was still the carer for the youngest.
Mr Western submitted references to show that Wadley was trusted and had a polite, gentlemanly nature.
Judge McCreath said he accepted Wadley was a man with many good virtues but public money had been stolen and the public needed to know that benefit cheats would not be tolerated.
Jail for £28k benefit fraud
A BENEFIT cheat from Coventry who swindled nearly £29,000 of taxpayers’ money over a seven-year period has been jailed for 12 months.
Declan Dunne, 40, of Threadneedle Street, Foleshill, was branded a “professional fraudster” by a judge at Coventry Crown Court.
The court heard the builder used a false name to claim £28,615 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and unemployment benefit from Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Birmingham City Council between 2001 and 2008.
The dad-of-three, who has a previous conviction for dishonesty, pleaded guilty to five counts of retaining wrongful credit and was locked up for a year.
Judge Christopher Hodson told him: “You are a professional fraudster as opposed to an amateur one because what you did to obtain this money was done quite deliberately.
“You used a false name applied to a number of houses to which you had some interest.
“It went on for nearly seven years.
“The money was not spent on the high life but to sustain your business, but it was dishonest through and through.”
Alexander Jacobs, defending, had argued that sending Dunne to prison would cost the public even more money.
He added: “The money was not used to fund an extravagant lifestyle, it was used to support a business.
“The deception spiralled out of control.”
The court heard Dunne was a registered carer for his disabled dad and helped run a building firm in Lythalls Lane, Coventry.
Declan Dunne, 40, of Threadneedle Street, Foleshill, was branded a “professional fraudster” by a judge at Coventry Crown Court.
The court heard the builder used a false name to claim £28,615 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and unemployment benefit from Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Birmingham City Council between 2001 and 2008.
The dad-of-three, who has a previous conviction for dishonesty, pleaded guilty to five counts of retaining wrongful credit and was locked up for a year.
Judge Christopher Hodson told him: “You are a professional fraudster as opposed to an amateur one because what you did to obtain this money was done quite deliberately.
“You used a false name applied to a number of houses to which you had some interest.
“It went on for nearly seven years.
“The money was not spent on the high life but to sustain your business, but it was dishonest through and through.”
Alexander Jacobs, defending, had argued that sending Dunne to prison would cost the public even more money.
He added: “The money was not used to fund an extravagant lifestyle, it was used to support a business.
“The deception spiralled out of control.”
The court heard Dunne was a registered carer for his disabled dad and helped run a building firm in Lythalls Lane, Coventry.
Jail for £50k benefit fraud
Aziz Jaffar, 48, from Kingsbury, has been sentenced to two years jail after he was found guilty of committing benefit fraud totalling £51, 302.
Jaffar, who pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial, was found guilty on seven charges of dishonestly obtaining housing benefit and council tax benefit from Brent Council between April 1999 to August 2004.
Records show that he had been claiming benefits since at least June 1997 on the basis that he was a married man with a wife and two dependant children.
He told the council he had a low income from a self employed business and in 1998 he reported that he had stopped working and was now in receipt of sickness benefits from the DWP.
In July 1999 Jaffar claimed to earn just £64.80 a week as managing director for Hanz Ltd., a property maintenance company which he said he worked for just 18 hours each week. Jaffar was first interviewed by investigators from Brent Council in July 2004 but then left the country.
Jaffar was a signatory to Hanz Ltd's bank account and had been writing himself regular cheques ranging from £500 to thousands of pounds per month.
In his defence Mr Jaffar contested that these cheques had been salary payments but the court found this explanation unsatisfactory.
Brent Council continued to pursue him and a summons was served but he failed to attend court. A bench warrant was subsequently issued by the court and Jaffar was finally arrested in April 2007 at Heathrow Airport and remanded on conditional bail when he attempted to re-enter the UK.
Duncan McLeod, director of Finance and Corporate Resources, Brent Council, said: "The council is committed to exposing and prosecuting cases of benefit fraud and this example shows that we will not give up, even if the suspect leaves the country in an attempt to escape justice."
Jaffar, who pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial, was found guilty on seven charges of dishonestly obtaining housing benefit and council tax benefit from Brent Council between April 1999 to August 2004.
Records show that he had been claiming benefits since at least June 1997 on the basis that he was a married man with a wife and two dependant children.
He told the council he had a low income from a self employed business and in 1998 he reported that he had stopped working and was now in receipt of sickness benefits from the DWP.
In July 1999 Jaffar claimed to earn just £64.80 a week as managing director for Hanz Ltd., a property maintenance company which he said he worked for just 18 hours each week. Jaffar was first interviewed by investigators from Brent Council in July 2004 but then left the country.
Jaffar was a signatory to Hanz Ltd's bank account and had been writing himself regular cheques ranging from £500 to thousands of pounds per month.
In his defence Mr Jaffar contested that these cheques had been salary payments but the court found this explanation unsatisfactory.
Brent Council continued to pursue him and a summons was served but he failed to attend court. A bench warrant was subsequently issued by the court and Jaffar was finally arrested in April 2007 at Heathrow Airport and remanded on conditional bail when he attempted to re-enter the UK.
Duncan McLeod, director of Finance and Corporate Resources, Brent Council, said: "The council is committed to exposing and prosecuting cases of benefit fraud and this example shows that we will not give up, even if the suspect leaves the country in an attempt to escape justice."
No jail for £79k benefit fraud
There's always some reason for leniency in the face of large, calculated frauds carried out over years. There are often children. How agreeable and warming for a judge to show mercy.
One wonders what the anonymous informant will think of this sentence. What does it do for the credibility of Havering Council's campaign against benefit fraud? Will this frighten anyone off benefit fraud?
One wonders what the anonymous informant will think of this sentence. What does it do for the credibility of Havering Council's campaign against benefit fraud? Will this frighten anyone off benefit fraud?
A mother has been spared jail after admitting to being the biggest benefit cheat ever caught by Havering Council.
Alison Humphreys, 41, dishonestly claimed almost £79,000 in income support, council tax and housing benefit for more than a decade - and was only found out after an anonymous tip-off.
The mum-of-three told authorities she was jobless, living alone and having to look after her children with almost no money.
But from August 1998 she had been sharing a family home with partner John Patrick O'Neil, and had thousands of pounds stashed in numerous bank accounts kept secret from Havering Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.
The council has confirmed that it was the biggest fraudulent overpayment it has ever investigated.
Defending Humphreys - who has lost three-and-a-half stone in weight during legal proceedings - Patrick Maggs told Basildon Crown Court: "This is not a case of extravagant living; this is not a case of money being put to fund a luxury lifestyle. The money was put toward funding a very regular household."
Mr Maggs blamed a turbulent relationship with Mr O'Neil, who works for a building and property maintenance firm, for some of Humphreys' problems.
Mr Maggs pleaded for leniency, saying a suspended jail term would "keep the family together".
He added: "There would be no further burden on the public purse and the prospects of repaying the money are real, in a way that would not be as a result of any custodial sentence."
He said prison would also be tough because Humphreys suffers form a rare condition which causes sharp intermittent pain in her face.
Sentencing Humphreys, of Ennerdale Avenue, Elm Park, to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, Recorder John Brooke-Smith said: "All of these offences were committed by you over a significant period of time.
"There were multiple occasions when you dishonestly filled out declaration forms. Nothing has been repaid."
But he added: "You have no previous convictions and pleaded guilty and those matters are mitigating factors. In your case I also take into account there was another person, in the Crown's case, who was involved in this case.
"I also take into account if I were to sentence you to prison others, other than yourself would suffer."
He also ordered her to do 150 hours of unpaid work.
The massive fraud only came to light when Havering council received a letter alerting them that Humphreys was not living alone.
The council launched a joint investigation with the Department for Work and Pensions and discovered that on bank, phone and even school records Humphreys and O'Neil had stated they were living together.
Grandparents can still be bad people
A JUDGE has taken pity on two benefit cheat grandparents by sparing them jail for defrauding city taxpayers out of £55,000 over 17 years.
Husband and wife David and Jennifer Panton fraudulently claimed incapacity benefit, council tax subsidies and housing benefit between 1990 and 2007 – despite the fact she was working part-time at Peterborough District Hospital’s maternity unit.
But after hearing how they had endured a meagre existence after Mr Panton suffered a career-ending back injury, Judge Sean Enright decided to suspend the custodial sentences he would otherwise have imposed.
He told the tearful couple: “I want to make it very plain that in the ordinary course of events, benefit fraudsters will go to prison, and I’m determined to send them to prison for as long as the law permits.
“However, because of your circumstances, it is not in the public interest that you go to prison today.”
The court heard Mr Panton (61) was forced to give up his job at Perkins Engines in 1978 after suffering a crippling back injury.
As a result, the couple began claiming benefits in 1990 – but only months later, Mrs Panton (59) began working two days a week at the hospital.
Even though her wages – equivalent to £600 a month today – would not have stopped their payments altogether, they chose not to declare her job to the authorities.
Over the 17 years until October 2007, Mr Panton claimed £35,000 he was not entitled to in incapacity benefits while between them the couple were also overpaid £20,000 in council tax and housing benefits.
Andy Cave, mitigating for the couple, said they had lived in “a virtual state of deprivation” throughout their 40-year marriage, bringing up three children at their home in Lawson Avenue.
They have already made arrangements to pay back the money at £40 a week – a rate which would take them more than 25 years to repay the outstanding sum.
Mr Panton was sentenced to 51 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, while his wife was given a 12-week suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 280 hours of unpaid community work.
Husband and wife David and Jennifer Panton fraudulently claimed incapacity benefit, council tax subsidies and housing benefit between 1990 and 2007 – despite the fact she was working part-time at Peterborough District Hospital’s maternity unit.
But after hearing how they had endured a meagre existence after Mr Panton suffered a career-ending back injury, Judge Sean Enright decided to suspend the custodial sentences he would otherwise have imposed.
He told the tearful couple: “I want to make it very plain that in the ordinary course of events, benefit fraudsters will go to prison, and I’m determined to send them to prison for as long as the law permits.
“However, because of your circumstances, it is not in the public interest that you go to prison today.”
The court heard Mr Panton (61) was forced to give up his job at Perkins Engines in 1978 after suffering a crippling back injury.
As a result, the couple began claiming benefits in 1990 – but only months later, Mrs Panton (59) began working two days a week at the hospital.
Even though her wages – equivalent to £600 a month today – would not have stopped their payments altogether, they chose not to declare her job to the authorities.
Over the 17 years until October 2007, Mr Panton claimed £35,000 he was not entitled to in incapacity benefits while between them the couple were also overpaid £20,000 in council tax and housing benefits.
Andy Cave, mitigating for the couple, said they had lived in “a virtual state of deprivation” throughout their 40-year marriage, bringing up three children at their home in Lawson Avenue.
They have already made arrangements to pay back the money at £40 a week – a rate which would take them more than 25 years to repay the outstanding sum.
Mr Panton was sentenced to 51 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, while his wife was given a 12-week suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 280 hours of unpaid community work.
Unpaid work for £17k benefits fraud
Karen Longhurst from Whitehaven over-claimed £17,234 of benefits by not revealing she was living with her partner. She has been ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and pay £75 in court costs.
She received benefit as a single person from 1993 but an investigation revealed she had been living with her partner Michael Burns since 2006. The offences stretched from November 2006 to June 2008.
Val Hendren, for Longhurst, said: “My client and Mr Burns had a child together, he used to visit the house quite regularly.“The amount of time he spent at the house increased and the defendant wasn’t sure when it became classed as habitation. She pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.” She said that the couple are now claiming joint benefit.
Mrs Hendren told magistrates that although the sum overpaid was large, the state had not actually been defrauded to that full extent. She had already started to repay the money she wrongly claimed.
She received benefit as a single person from 1993 but an investigation revealed she had been living with her partner Michael Burns since 2006. The offences stretched from November 2006 to June 2008.
Val Hendren, for Longhurst, said: “My client and Mr Burns had a child together, he used to visit the house quite regularly.“The amount of time he spent at the house increased and the defendant wasn’t sure when it became classed as habitation. She pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.” She said that the couple are now claiming joint benefit.
Mrs Hendren told magistrates that although the sum overpaid was large, the state had not actually been defrauded to that full extent. She had already started to repay the money she wrongly claimed.
Community service for Rugby benefit cheat
Tracey Lynas has been ordered to repay £3,119 after making fraudulent claims for housing and council tax help in Rugby. She was also given a 12-month supervision order with 40 hours of unpaid work.
She has a family of four and a friend living with her and her children. When interviewed under caution she admitted that she’d had people living at her address for 12 months.
She added that she was aware that this would affect the amount of benefit she would be entitled to. Lynas also confessed that she’d not notified Rugby Borough Council of this change in her circumstances. The offences happened between November 2007 and October 2008.
She has a family of four and a friend living with her and her children. When interviewed under caution she admitted that she’d had people living at her address for 12 months.
She added that she was aware that this would affect the amount of benefit she would be entitled to. Lynas also confessed that she’d not notified Rugby Borough Council of this change in her circumstances. The offences happened between November 2007 and October 2008.
Irish government targets benefit fraud
The Irish government has ordered a crackdown on welfare fraud, including false child benefit and disability claims. Mary Hanafin, the social affairs minister is planning airport checkpoints to catch long-distance “welfare commuters”, as well as an increase in border checkpoints manned by gardai and social welfare inspectors, reports The Times.
The number of checks on child benefit claims by foreign nationals will be trebled this year. So far more than 5,400 claims have been refused by inspectors in 2009. As a result, child-benefit savings from fraud checks could top €90m.
Inspectors have conducted 70,000 case reviews and terminated 5% of the 23,600 claims made by Polish families, 8.5% of the 6,288 claims from Lithuanians and 10% of the 1,833 claims from Americans.
Hanafin confirmed government plans to cut 20% off the €2.5 billion paid out each year in child benefit payments. She said that joint border patrols with gardai and other state authorities would be intensified. Welfare inspectors in Co Donegal have been instructed to reject new dole applications from northerners moving from districts where work is available to areas of high unemployment in the republic.
“There are 80,000 people living in Derry and there are only a couple of hundred people living in Lifford and Buncrana with a high unemployment rate,” Hanafin said. “How could you move from the city with employment to the small town with no employment and claim to be ‘genuinely seeking work’? ” Social welfare inspectors are stopping new applications for welfare payments from northerners moving to the republic on that basis.
The small number of welfare inspectors at Irish airports will also be “ratcheted up”, she added. This will counteract the practice of some eastern Europeans, who have previously worked in Ireland, returning on a weekly or fortnightly basis to pick up payments to which they are not entitled. Jobseekers’ benefit entitlement lapses for workers 13 weeks after they leave Ireland.
Hanafin conceded that Ireland had one of the most generous social welfare regimes in Europe. “It was never the intention of Europe that people would be better off on the dole in one country than they would be working in another,” she said.
She said the government was determined to meet its commitment to either tax or means-test child benefit payments in the next budget and dismissed recent reports of constitutional difficulties in achieving this aim as without foundation.
The number of checks on child benefit claims by foreign nationals will be trebled this year. So far more than 5,400 claims have been refused by inspectors in 2009. As a result, child-benefit savings from fraud checks could top €90m.
Inspectors have conducted 70,000 case reviews and terminated 5% of the 23,600 claims made by Polish families, 8.5% of the 6,288 claims from Lithuanians and 10% of the 1,833 claims from Americans.
Hanafin confirmed government plans to cut 20% off the €2.5 billion paid out each year in child benefit payments. She said that joint border patrols with gardai and other state authorities would be intensified. Welfare inspectors in Co Donegal have been instructed to reject new dole applications from northerners moving from districts where work is available to areas of high unemployment in the republic.
“There are 80,000 people living in Derry and there are only a couple of hundred people living in Lifford and Buncrana with a high unemployment rate,” Hanafin said. “How could you move from the city with employment to the small town with no employment and claim to be ‘genuinely seeking work’? ” Social welfare inspectors are stopping new applications for welfare payments from northerners moving to the republic on that basis.
The small number of welfare inspectors at Irish airports will also be “ratcheted up”, she added. This will counteract the practice of some eastern Europeans, who have previously worked in Ireland, returning on a weekly or fortnightly basis to pick up payments to which they are not entitled. Jobseekers’ benefit entitlement lapses for workers 13 weeks after they leave Ireland.
Hanafin conceded that Ireland had one of the most generous social welfare regimes in Europe. “It was never the intention of Europe that people would be better off on the dole in one country than they would be working in another,” she said.
She said the government was determined to meet its commitment to either tax or means-test child benefit payments in the next budget and dismissed recent reports of constitutional difficulties in achieving this aim as without foundation.
Stunning leniency for £57k benefit fraud
Mother-of-five Julia Gill from Skelmersdale claimed £57,212 in benefits she wasn't entitled to. She claimed her husband did not live with her, when in fact he stayed from time to time.
A fourth charge related to a false declaration when filling in a claim form.
The income support claimed was £49,060, the council tax was £1,301 and the housing benefit was £6,849. The overpayment was £57,212 with £26,883 of entitlement leaving a notional sum of £30,329.
Ms Gill received claims on the basis she had no partner living at her address. She later admitted, when interviewed, her husband was working and stayed quite regularly.
Judge Pamela Badley told Gill she had done well bringing up her family when she had had problems. (So what? This justified benefit fraud?) But she had cheated the system.
The judge said: "You have pleaded guilty to offences that show you have been claiming money you are not entitled to." Gill was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment suspended for two years. She must complete 180 hours' unpaid work. Where's any real punishment here?
A fourth charge related to a false declaration when filling in a claim form.
The income support claimed was £49,060, the council tax was £1,301 and the housing benefit was £6,849. The overpayment was £57,212 with £26,883 of entitlement leaving a notional sum of £30,329.
Ms Gill received claims on the basis she had no partner living at her address. She later admitted, when interviewed, her husband was working and stayed quite regularly.
Judge Pamela Badley told Gill she had done well bringing up her family when she had had problems. (So what? This justified benefit fraud?) But she had cheated the system.
The judge said: "You have pleaded guilty to offences that show you have been claiming money you are not entitled to." Gill was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment suspended for two years. She must complete 180 hours' unpaid work. Where's any real punishment here?
13 May 2009
Benefits fraud round-up
A Barnsley man who claimed more than £36,000 in benefits to which he wasn't entitled has been jailed for five months.
Katrina Graham from York pleaded guilty to swindling over £44,000 in benefits. It was a calculated fraud over several years. Sentencing is due next month.
Danielle Macinski, from Maidenhead, has been fined £2,500, ordered to pay costs of £280 and pay £15,250.10 compensation within eight weeks for stealing over £15,000 in benefits. A light sentence.
A Leeds cage fighter who cheated the taxpayer out of £25,000 has escaped a spell behind bars. Mahboob Alam repaid the cash he defrauded from Leeds City Council after being confronted by the YEP in March. But he faces having to take out another loan for £7,000 for court costs as he was handed a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years.
Katrina Graham from York pleaded guilty to swindling over £44,000 in benefits. It was a calculated fraud over several years. Sentencing is due next month.
Danielle Macinski, from Maidenhead, has been fined £2,500, ordered to pay costs of £280 and pay £15,250.10 compensation within eight weeks for stealing over £15,000 in benefits. A light sentence.
A Leeds cage fighter who cheated the taxpayer out of £25,000 has escaped a spell behind bars. Mahboob Alam repaid the cash he defrauded from Leeds City Council after being confronted by the YEP in March. But he faces having to take out another loan for £7,000 for court costs as he was handed a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years.
11 May 2009
Jail for £36k benefit fraud
John Sanderson, from Barnsley admitted fraudulently claiming £10,511 in housing benefit and £26,000 income support.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Sanderson and his wife Julie failed to tell Barnsley Council they owned their home at Holme Court, Highgates, Goldthorpe.
They moved in in January 2000 and rented the house from agents Dearne Valley Properties. But Mr Sanderson neglected to tell Barnsley Council they had bought the property in June 2001 and continued to receive housing benefit of £324 per month.
He submitted five false applications for benefit to Barnsley Council during April 2002 and April 2006, supported by forged documents stating they were still tenants of Dearne Valley Properties.
Sanderson, who has previous convictions for theft and fraud, was sentenced to five months in prison.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Sanderson and his wife Julie failed to tell Barnsley Council they owned their home at Holme Court, Highgates, Goldthorpe.
They moved in in January 2000 and rented the house from agents Dearne Valley Properties. But Mr Sanderson neglected to tell Barnsley Council they had bought the property in June 2001 and continued to receive housing benefit of £324 per month.
He submitted five false applications for benefit to Barnsley Council during April 2002 and April 2006, supported by forged documents stating they were still tenants of Dearne Valley Properties.
Sanderson, who has previous convictions for theft and fraud, was sentenced to five months in prison.
Another light sentence
A Lancashire benefit cheat who admitted making false disability living allowance claims of £8,880 while running a burger van has avoided jail.
Colin White also worked at a crazy golf course while claiming benefits, Blackpool Magistrates' Court heard. He was secretly filmed bending, lifting and carrying by the DWP.
He was given a 12-month community order and ordered to pay court costs of £75. That's nothing!
The court heard he has repaid £589.81 of the overpaid benefit.
A DWP official said Mr White received a higher rate of benefit because he claimed he was severely injured and was put under surveillance following an anonymous tip-off to a fraud hotline.
Colin White also worked at a crazy golf course while claiming benefits, Blackpool Magistrates' Court heard. He was secretly filmed bending, lifting and carrying by the DWP.
He was given a 12-month community order and ordered to pay court costs of £75. That's nothing!
The court heard he has repaid £589.81 of the overpaid benefit.
A DWP official said Mr White received a higher rate of benefit because he claimed he was severely injured and was put under surveillance following an anonymous tip-off to a fraud hotline.
Trivial 'punishment' for benefit fraud
A fraudster who claimed over £2,700 of false benefits has been fined.
Daniel Wakeman failed to tell South Cambridgeshire District Council about a change in circumstances.
He claimed housing and council tax benefits during a period of unemployment, and did not inform the council when he returned to work.
Mr Wakeman initially pleaded not guilty and the case was prepared for trial. However, he changed his plea at a later stage, and was fined £200 and ordered to pay £100 towards the district council's costs, together with a victim surcharge of £15.
The district council has now recovered the overpaid benefits.
If this had been dealt with as an administrative penalty it would have cost him more. £315 of costs for theft of £2,700 is a trivial punishment.
Daniel Wakeman failed to tell South Cambridgeshire District Council about a change in circumstances.
He claimed housing and council tax benefits during a period of unemployment, and did not inform the council when he returned to work.
Mr Wakeman initially pleaded not guilty and the case was prepared for trial. However, he changed his plea at a later stage, and was fined £200 and ordered to pay £100 towards the district council's costs, together with a victim surcharge of £15.
The district council has now recovered the overpaid benefits.
If this had been dealt with as an administrative penalty it would have cost him more. £315 of costs for theft of £2,700 is a trivial punishment.
Prison for £31k benefit fraud
A single mother who falsely claimed benefits totalling more than £31,000 has been sent to prison.
Sharon Gardner, from Cleethorpes, admitted two offences of claiming income support, council tax and housing benefits when she shared the home with her partner Terence Waller.
She was jailed for 270 days and will serve half of that term before being released on licence.
Sentencing Gardner at Grimsby Crown Court, Recorder Andrew Campbell QC said the immediate jail term would mean she could lose her £180-a-week food factory job – which could put her back onto benefits.
Prosecuting, Martin Haigh said Gardner had claimed benefits from 2001 because she had no income apart from child benefit.
But from 2003 she began living with Terence Waller and did not tell the authorities about the change in circumstances.
They moved to a home in Daubney Street, Cleethorpes, and she continued to claim cash until October 2006 .
The benefits totalled more than £15,000 in income support, £13,000 in housing benefit and more than £2,000 in council tax.
No order for compensation was made because the benefit agencies will recoup the money from Gardner - doubtless at the pitifully slow rate allowed.
Sharon Gardner, from Cleethorpes, admitted two offences of claiming income support, council tax and housing benefits when she shared the home with her partner Terence Waller.
She was jailed for 270 days and will serve half of that term before being released on licence.
Sentencing Gardner at Grimsby Crown Court, Recorder Andrew Campbell QC said the immediate jail term would mean she could lose her £180-a-week food factory job – which could put her back onto benefits.
Prosecuting, Martin Haigh said Gardner had claimed benefits from 2001 because she had no income apart from child benefit.
But from 2003 she began living with Terence Waller and did not tell the authorities about the change in circumstances.
They moved to a home in Daubney Street, Cleethorpes, and she continued to claim cash until October 2006 .
The benefits totalled more than £15,000 in income support, £13,000 in housing benefit and more than £2,000 in council tax.
No order for compensation was made because the benefit agencies will recoup the money from Gardner - doubtless at the pitifully slow rate allowed.
Light sentence for calculated benefit fraud
Leeann Meek, from Yeovil, admitted she had not informed the Department of Work and Pensions that her partner was employed and continued to receive benefits.
The overpayment of Housing Benefit, Income Support and Council Tax Benefit totalling more than £8,000 was described as ‘calculated theft’ by South Somerset District Council’s Corporate Director of Health and Wellbeing David Stapleton.
Mrs Meek plead guilty to all charges and was sentenced to six months community service order and six months supervision order.
The overpayment of Housing Benefit, Income Support and Council Tax Benefit totalling more than £8,000 was described as ‘calculated theft’ by South Somerset District Council’s Corporate Director of Health and Wellbeing David Stapleton.
Mrs Meek plead guilty to all charges and was sentenced to six months community service order and six months supervision order.
8 May 2009
Yet another light sentence
Lone parent Lisa Anne Judkins from Hersham failed to notify Elmbridge Council she had found work and had received an increase in her tax credit payments.
As a result, she was overpaid housing and council tax benefits between October 1, 2007 and October 27, 2008, amounting to £2,485.
As well as having to pay back the money, Judkins, from Longmore Road, Hersham, was fined £170 and forced to pay £200 towards costs. And that's it.
Judkins, who has three children, expressed remorse to the magistrates and did not seek to excuse her behaviour.
After the sentencing, Jane Bolton, joint-head of the council’s housing services, said: “This successful prosecution reflects our zero-tolerance on fraud and our continuing active programme to detect and pursue anyone attempting to defraud the council in this way.”
As a result, she was overpaid housing and council tax benefits between October 1, 2007 and October 27, 2008, amounting to £2,485.
As well as having to pay back the money, Judkins, from Longmore Road, Hersham, was fined £170 and forced to pay £200 towards costs. And that's it.
Judkins, who has three children, expressed remorse to the magistrates and did not seek to excuse her behaviour.
After the sentencing, Jane Bolton, joint-head of the council’s housing services, said: “This successful prosecution reflects our zero-tolerance on fraud and our continuing active programme to detect and pursue anyone attempting to defraud the council in this way.”
- She pleaded guilty. In what other sense was this prosecution successful? The sentence is trivial.
People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have.
Astonishing laxity for £40k+ benefit fraud
What do you have to do to get sent to prison?
A company director who stole nearly £50,000 in benefits from Harrow Council has been spared jail.
Carolyn Coke fraudulently claimed housing and council tax benefits from Harrow while running an agency called Starting Out Ltd, placing young asylum seekers in accommodation on behalf of Hounslow Council Social Services.
When claiming the cash, she failed to declare buying houses in Belsize Road, Harrow Weald, Oldborough Road, Wembley, and Morley Crescent West, Stanmore, worth almost £1million.
Coke was given a one-year jail sentence, suspended for two years.
The benefits ruse was rumbled by council investigators looking into an unpaid bill, who found when Coke had moved house, her landlord Clayton Ward moved with her and continued to charge her rent.
She was claiming to be a single mother with three children who relied on income support and housing and council tax benefits.
But further checks showed she had three mortgages on the houses in Harrow and Wembley, and was running Starting Out Ltd in which Mr Ward was also a director.
Coke was first interviewed in 2006 when she denied being a company director, but admitted she and Mr Ward were partners.
She failed to turn up for any more interviews with council investigators and was arrested in July 2007 on suspicion of benefit fraud.
Following yesterday's sentence, Coke must pay back £41,990 by the end of November or face going to jail.
A company director who stole nearly £50,000 in benefits from Harrow Council has been spared jail.
Carolyn Coke fraudulently claimed housing and council tax benefits from Harrow while running an agency called Starting Out Ltd, placing young asylum seekers in accommodation on behalf of Hounslow Council Social Services.
When claiming the cash, she failed to declare buying houses in Belsize Road, Harrow Weald, Oldborough Road, Wembley, and Morley Crescent West, Stanmore, worth almost £1million.
Coke was given a one-year jail sentence, suspended for two years.
The benefits ruse was rumbled by council investigators looking into an unpaid bill, who found when Coke had moved house, her landlord Clayton Ward moved with her and continued to charge her rent.
She was claiming to be a single mother with three children who relied on income support and housing and council tax benefits.
But further checks showed she had three mortgages on the houses in Harrow and Wembley, and was running Starting Out Ltd in which Mr Ward was also a director.
Coke was first interviewed in 2006 when she denied being a company director, but admitted she and Mr Ward were partners.
She failed to turn up for any more interviews with council investigators and was arrested in July 2007 on suspicion of benefit fraud.
Following yesterday's sentence, Coke must pay back £41,990 by the end of November or face going to jail.
- People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have.
Community service for £16k benefits cheat
A man who dishonestly claimed thousands of pounds in benefit when he had up to £30,000 in the bank said he couldn't touch the cash because it was to pay for his daughter's education.
Aftab Alam received more than £16,000 in income support payments over five years but escaped a jail sentence because of his family circumstances.
Judge Michael Henshell ordered the father-of-three to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.
He had begun claiming the benefit in April 2002 when he said he was not fit enough to work. To be eligible for income support a claimant has to make a declaration stating that they do not have savings in excess of £8,000.
But the court was told that his savings were more, reaching a maximum of £30,000 at one point, and that the claim had been false from the outset.
When the offence was discovered Alam admitted it at the earliest opportunity. Judge Henshell was told he had lost his good character and standing in the community as a result of his crime.
The court heard that although Alam's savings had been in excess of the £8,000 threshold, he had not regarded it as his own money as a substantial amount had been donated by family and friends to pay for his eldest daughter's education.
He has already repaid more than £10,000 of the money he wrongly claimed and is continuing to repay the balance. Passing sentence,
Judge Henshell said he took a number of factors into account, including the fact that Alam was sole provider for his family.
Both he and his wife were suffering from deteriorating health conditions.
The judge said: "This is a very serious offence but I am satisfied that a combination of circumstances led you to commit this offence."
htp Dave
Aftab Alam received more than £16,000 in income support payments over five years but escaped a jail sentence because of his family circumstances.
Judge Michael Henshell ordered the father-of-three
He had begun claiming the benefit in April 2002 when he said he was not fit enough to work. To be eligible for income support a claimant has to make a declaration stating that they do not have savings in excess of £8,000.
But the court was told that his savings were more, reaching a maximum of £30,000 at one point, and that the claim had been false from the outset.
When the offence was discovered Alam admitted it at the earliest opportunity. Judge Henshell was told he had lost his good character and standing in the community as a result of his crime.
The court heard that although Alam's savings had been in excess of the £8,000 threshold, he had not regarded it as his own money as a substantial amount had been donated by family and friends to pay for his eldest daughter's education.
He has already repaid more than £10,000 of the money he wrongly claimed and is continuing to repay the balance. Passing sentence,
Judge Henshell said he took a number of factors into account, including the fact that Alam was sole provider for his family.
Both he and his wife were suffering from deteriorating health conditions.
The judge said: "This is a very serious offence but I am satisfied that a combination of circumstances led you to commit this offence."
htp Dave
The benefit frauds continue
A MAN with an alcohol problem worked as a bus driver while claiming almost £10,000 in incapacity benefit.
Luke Hymer, a 37-year-old father-of-one, of St Andrews Road, St Annes, admitted dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances.
His case was adjourned to May 27 for pre-sentence reports by Blackpool magistrates who warned him that he could be jailed.
More
htp Dave
Luke Hymer, a 37-year-old father-of-one, of St Andrews Road, St Annes, admitted dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances.
His case was adjourned to May 27 for pre-sentence reports by Blackpool magistrates who warned him that he could be jailed.
More
htp Dave
Agent guilty of housing benefit fraud
Landlord’s agent Gary Lam carried on collecting £9,400 housing benefit after a tenant moved out of the property he was looking after.
Lam, 58, of Ashford, Middlesex, was given a five month suspended prison sentence by magistrates at Redhill, Surrey and also ordered to carry out 100 hours of community servcice.
Lam had pleaded not guilty to two charges of fraudulently claiming housing benefit but changed his plea to guilty during the hearing.
When the tenant moved out, he carried on collecting the benefit when he should have told the local council the tenant had gone so payments were stopped. Instead, Lam carried on collecting the cash for almost a year as the property remained empty.
Lam was caught when someone tipped off the council’s benefit team about the offence.
Lam, 58, of Ashford, Middlesex, was given a five month suspended prison sentence by magistrates at Redhill, Surrey and also ordered to carry out 100 hours of community servcice.
Lam had pleaded not guilty to two charges of fraudulently claiming housing benefit but changed his plea to guilty during the hearing.
When the tenant moved out, he carried on collecting the benefit when he should have told the local council the tenant had gone so payments were stopped. Instead, Lam carried on collecting the cash for almost a year as the property remained empty.
Lam was caught when someone tipped off the council’s benefit team about the offence.
Another trivial punishment
A joint prosecution led to a benefit cheat being given a curfew order. Andrew Pleasants, of Willingdon Avenue, St Leonards, admitted claiming £5,584.33 in benefits he was not entitled to when he appeared at Hastings Magistrates Court recrently.
The court heard that Mr Pleasants, 38, had been claiming income support, incapacity benefit, housing and council tax benefit but had failed to tell either the DWP or the Council that he started working in February 2008. Magistrates gave Mr Pleasants a three-month curfew order between the hours of 6pm and 5am and he was ordered to pay £60 in costs.
The court heard that Mr Pleasants, 38, had been claiming income support, incapacity benefit, housing and council tax benefit but had failed to tell either the DWP or the Council that he started working in February 2008. Magistrates gave Mr Pleasants a three-month curfew order between the hours of 6pm and 5am and he was ordered to pay £60 in costs.
- Looks like they really didn't want to punish him.
People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have.
Verger was benefit thief
A benefit cheat has been ordered to repay more than £4,000 after claiming money she was not entitled to.
Fraudster Hazel Bayford, from Ware, pocketed £4,829.70 after failing to inform East Herts Council she had started work.
The 64-year-old, of Coronation Road, claimed housing and council tax benefit between August 2005 and October 2008 while she was working at St. Mary's Church in Ware.
Hertford Magistrates Court ordered Mrs Bayford to repay the full amount and fined her £200.
She will also have to pay £150 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £15.
Fraudster Hazel Bayford, from Ware, pocketed £4,829.70 after failing to inform East Herts Council she had started work.
The 64-year-old, of Coronation Road, claimed housing and council tax benefit between August 2005 and October 2008 while she was working at St. Mary's Church in Ware.
Hertford Magistrates Court ordered Mrs Bayford to repay the full amount and fined her £200.
She will also have to pay £150 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £15.
- There's hardly any punishment element here.
People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have.
7 May 2009
Benefit cheat lied under caution
... but still just got a conditional discharge even after she'd failed to appear for a previous hearing, with not even costs awarded against her.
Amie Dennis (19) formerly of Earl Shilton, but now living in Kent, has been sentenced to an eight month conditional discharge after fraudulently claimed more than £700 in housing and council tax benefits by lying about her income.
Miss Dennis was found guilty to one count of fraud after she failed to tell the council about a change in her income. Following the change in her income, Miss Dennis was no longer entitled to Housing or Council Tax Benefit and should have started to pay her own rent and council tax.
When interviewed under caution, Miss Dennis told the investigator that she had been paying her own rent for the period in question, but when this was checked after the interview, it was found to be a lie – during the entire period of her tenancy, Miss Dennis had only made one payment to her landlords.
Miss Dennis, who had previously been arrested for failing to appear for an earlier hearing, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, and admitted lying to the council and being dishonest.
As a result of her fraudulent claim, Miss Dennis was overpaid £630.00 Housing Benefit and £165.78 Council Tax Benefit, which she will have to repay to the council in full.
That's really going to happen, isn't it. Hinckley magistrates have let her get away with it.
htp Dave
Amie Dennis (19) formerly of Earl Shilton, but now living in Kent, has been sentenced to an eight month conditional discharge after fraudulently claimed more than £700 in housing and council tax benefits by lying about her income.
Miss Dennis was found guilty to one count of fraud after she failed to tell the council about a change in her income. Following the change in her income, Miss Dennis was no longer entitled to Housing or Council Tax Benefit and should have started to pay her own rent and council tax.
When interviewed under caution, Miss Dennis told the investigator that she had been paying her own rent for the period in question, but when this was checked after the interview, it was found to be a lie – during the entire period of her tenancy, Miss Dennis had only made one payment to her landlords.
Miss Dennis, who had previously been arrested for failing to appear for an earlier hearing, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, and admitted lying to the council and being dishonest.
As a result of her fraudulent claim, Miss Dennis was overpaid £630.00 Housing Benefit and £165.78 Council Tax Benefit, which she will have to repay to the council in full.
That's really going to happen, isn't it. Hinckley magistrates have let her get away with it.
htp Dave
Benefit fraud in Nottingham
A cracking post on Nottingham City Council LOLs. The council (NCC) have made the usual statement that they are closing in on benefit fraud, "telling everyone that they've found £300k worth of benefit fraud in a year".
The blogger had the bright idea of sending a freedom of information request, which revealed that
Indeed. Even the government admits to housing benefit fraud for 2007/8 running at 1.2% of the amount paid out, or £190m.
And in Lambeth, use of voice recognition software identified over 18% of claimants as benefit cheats. An 18% fraud rate would produce a total of £2.85bn for housing benefit fraud alone!
The council boasts of the amount it has recovered. But as the blogger says, how much did it cost them to recover that? How effective are their efforts in "cracking down" on housing benefit fraud really?
The blogger had the bright idea of sending a freedom of information request, which revealed that
The last figure for yearly expenditure on benefits by NCC was £123m. Therefore this identified fraud equates to 0.24% of the budget.As the blogger comments, "this really is a tiny amount".
Indeed. Even the government admits to housing benefit fraud for 2007/8 running at 1.2% of the amount paid out, or £190m.
And in Lambeth, use of voice recognition software identified over 18% of claimants as benefit cheats. An 18% fraud rate would produce a total of £2.85bn for housing benefit fraud alone!
The council boasts of the amount it has recovered. But as the blogger says, how much did it cost them to recover that? How effective are their efforts in "cracking down" on housing benefit fraud really?
Health tourists staying in 'benefit fraud hotels'
This report dates from 2007, but it shows what abuses our complex welfare system can breed. Doubtless some such scams are still happening even as you read this.
htp Dave
Benefit cheats are illegally sub-letting their flats in a Paddington mansion block for as much as £400 a week to Kuwaitis visiting London for medical treatment.It seems the authorities barely scratched the surface of this benefit fraud.
Nearly 140 of the 600 flats at Park West, off Edgware Road, could be involved in the racket and two housing benefit claimants have been arrested.
Westminster City Council plans to send them a court summons, while 15 people have had their benefit claims stopped and another 15 have had them suspended pending an investigation.
Cabinet member for finance, Colin Barrow, said: "It's sad that vulnerable people paying for treatment in the UK appear to be blindly checking into benefit fraud hotels.
"A significant number of those we found living in properties registered to other individuals are Kuwaiti.
"They are staying a couple of weeks to several months getting treatment for a range of disorders before flying home."
Westminster believes many of those sub-letting their flats are still collecting housing benefit from the council while living with spouses they have said they had split up from.
Police and council workers raided 17 of the suspect apartments three times in August and September. They found 11 were occupied by Kuwaitis and eight of those said they were visiting London for medical treatment.
One resident of the block, who did not want to be named, said the flat next door to his had been raided.
He said: "The guy had been subletting it for around five years. Flats around here go for about £350 to £400 a week so it's a lot of money. If someone was committing a fraud on that scale they should end up in prison.
"I've heard people cry domestic violence so their wives get re-housed as a priority then the husband moves in with them in the new place and they sub-let the old flat. The people who are staying there have no idea what is going on."
Another resident, who refused to be named, said: "My block has eight floors and people are always coming and going so you can't really keep track of people. These flats are almost 100 per cent Arab so no one is going to notice a couple of people from Kuwait moving in for a few weeks."
The high number of Kuwaiti health tourists could be down to information about the apartments spreading by word of mouth. The rent is paid by the Kuwaiti government.
The two arrested were found in their "former" spouses' homes.
Mr Barrow said: "As soon as Westminster discovered this we launched Operation Submarine jointly with the police. About £100,000 is at stake, made up of overpaid claims which now need to be reclaimed in court and payments which were stopped short when fraud was detected.
"We have successfully recouped £123,000 of falsely claimed benefits so far this financial year for the taxpayer."
htp Dave
Community order for £14k benefits theft
A mother-of-six dishonestly obtained £14,200 in benefits, claiming she was a single parent. Over a two-year period, Anne-Marie Swindlehurst from Bamber Bridge claimed housing benefit, income support and council tax benefit.
She maintained throughout that she was bringing up her family alone, but her husband had moved back in and the relationship had resumed, with him in steady employment.
The judge, Recorder Fiona Ashworth, told Swindlehurst the case had brought "shame" for her. Swindlehurst had come close to receiving an immediate prison term, the judge said. However, she had never been in trouble before and was repaying the money.
As part of a community order, Swindlehurst was told to undertake 140 hours' unpaid work and pay £300 costs.
We are not told how fast the money is being repaid. Usually it's very slow. Meanwhile the aptly named Swindlehurst is quids in.
She maintained throughout that she was bringing up her family alone, but her husband had moved back in and the relationship had resumed, with him in steady employment.
The judge, Recorder Fiona Ashworth, told Swindlehurst the case had brought "shame" for her. Swindlehurst had come close to receiving an immediate prison term, the judge said. However, she had never been in trouble before and was repaying the money.
As part of a community order, Swindlehurst was told to undertake 140 hours' unpaid work and pay £300 costs.
We are not told how fast the money is being repaid. Usually it's very slow. Meanwhile the aptly named Swindlehurst is quids in.
Light sentence for single mother benefit thief
Jayne Chester claimed income support for ten years, even though she had worked as an assembly worker for nine of them.
Official records, which only go back eight years, show the mother-of-one raked in £23,185 before being caught out in 2007.
At Manchester Crown Court, Chester, who admitted benefit fraud, was told that under the tax credits scheme, she could actually have legally claimed nearly £11,000 of the total she had fraudulently netted.
But even with the tax credits she was entitled to deducted, she still owed the taxpayer £12,364, and was given a 28-day suspended sentence, plus 120 hours unpaid work, and ordered to pay costs of £500.
Defending, Iain Johnstone, told the court: "Following the birth of her child - now 11-years of age - she was on maternity allowance and then made a genuine claim for income support.
"She was then offered casual work, where her income was extremely variable, though she knew she should have declared that she was working but failed.
"She fully accepts she acted unlawfully as time went on it became more and more difficult for her to take that step. She accepts what she has done is wrong, she is a hard-working single mother."
His Honour Judge Michael Henshell told her: "This was a legitimate claim at the outset, but you got a job and you knew you should have informed the authorities that you were claiming and working at the same time.
"If you had looked at it more carefully you might have found out that you were entitled to working family tax credits of just less than £11,000, but you didn't do that.
"The offences continued for some time, you didn't spend the money on any luxury items, but cases like this are very common and the public have got to realise that when people are caught, subject to various factors, the appropriate sentence is a sentence of imprisonment."
But not in this case evidently. Be a single mother benefit cheat and you can expect a light sentence from Judge Michael Henshell.
Official records, which only go back eight years, show the mother-of-one raked in £23,185 before being caught out in 2007.
At Manchester Crown Court, Chester, who admitted benefit fraud, was told that under the tax credits scheme, she could actually have legally claimed nearly £11,000 of the total she had fraudulently netted.
But even with the tax credits she was entitled to deducted, she still owed the taxpayer £12,364, and was given a 28-day suspended sentence, plus 120 hours unpaid work, and ordered to pay costs of £500.
Defending, Iain Johnstone, told the court: "Following the birth of her child - now 11-years of age - she was on maternity allowance and then made a genuine claim for income support.
"She was then offered casual work, where her income was extremely variable, though she knew she should have declared that she was working but failed.
"She fully accepts she acted unlawfully as time went on it became more and more difficult for her to take that step. She accepts what she has done is wrong, she is a hard-working single mother."
His Honour Judge Michael Henshell told her: "This was a legitimate claim at the outset, but you got a job and you knew you should have informed the authorities that you were claiming and working at the same time.
"If you had looked at it more carefully you might have found out that you were entitled to working family tax credits of just less than £11,000, but you didn't do that.
"The offences continued for some time, you didn't spend the money on any luxury items, but cases like this are very common and the public have got to realise that when people are caught, subject to various factors, the appropriate sentence is a sentence of imprisonment."
But not in this case evidently. Be a single mother benefit cheat and you can expect a light sentence from Judge Michael Henshell.
Housing benefit fraudsters get off lightly
Lambeth Council has successfully prosecuted residents for housing benefit fraud.
Bernard Williams of Kennington pleaded guilty to eight charges of benefit fraud amounting to £11,800. A housing benefit assessment officer noticed that the wage details he had supplied for the past five years had not changed at all.
The investigation team were able to prove that Mr Williams had been providing bogus wage slips falsifying the amount he earned in order to get his housing benefit paid.
He was sentenced to be subject to a Supervision Order for 12 months. He was also ordered to undertake an Education, Training and Employment course and to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work to be completed within a year. Which doesn't seem very much for £11,800.
Salieu Bah, from Norwood, pleaded guilty to five charges of obtaining £8084 of housing benefit by deception. Mr Bah gave false information on a number of occasions over a period of three years in order to get his housing benefit paid. He wanted to conceal that he was in fact a full time student in receipt of student loans.
Mr Bah was sentenced to 200 hours unpaid work to be completed within 12 months. He was also ordered to pay Lambeth’s costs of £400
These were both deliberate frauds. No mention of restitution.
Bernard Williams of Kennington pleaded guilty to eight charges of benefit fraud amounting to £11,800. A housing benefit assessment officer noticed that the wage details he had supplied for the past five years had not changed at all.
The investigation team were able to prove that Mr Williams had been providing bogus wage slips falsifying the amount he earned in order to get his housing benefit paid.
He was sentenced to be subject to a Supervision Order for 12 months. He was also ordered to undertake an Education, Training and Employment course and to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work to be completed within a year. Which doesn't seem very much for £11,800.
Salieu Bah, from Norwood, pleaded guilty to five charges of obtaining £8084 of housing benefit by deception. Mr Bah gave false information on a number of occasions over a period of three years in order to get his housing benefit paid. He wanted to conceal that he was in fact a full time student in receipt of student loans.
Mr Bah was sentenced to 200 hours unpaid work to be completed within 12 months. He was also ordered to pay Lambeth’s costs of £400
These were both deliberate frauds. No mention of restitution.
1 May 2009
Nul points for Redditch
Benefit recipients in Redditch receive a 'poor' quality service, according to an independent review by the Audit Commission.
In the review, the Commission gave the town's benefits service a zero-star rating - the lowest possible - as it found claims are being processed too slowly, information provided is difficult to understand, and despite a 'robust' approach to combating benefit fraud the recovery of overpayments is not managed effectively, with high levels of error.
Responding to the report, Redditch Borough Council leader Coun Carole Gandy said: "The benefits service was excellent in the years 2005 to 2006 - however, there was no formal way of monitoring it and so no way for members to be aware of how rapidly it was declining. It wasn't excellent, then, was it.
"A combination of factors, including extended sick leave and a lack of investment in the service meant it more or less went into freefall."
She went on to state that in November, before the audit took place, £25,000 was ploughed into the service to help with the recruitment of more staff as council members became aware it was struggling, particularly as the number of people claiming started to rise dramatically.
Coun Gandy added: "The number of claimants in Redditch has increased by 145 per cent, which is actually the seventh highest increase in the country and it put a huge strain on the service.
"Once we were aware what was going wrong we did everything we could to help right the situation."
This included putting a performance framework in place to monitor not only the benefits service but other departments too, with regular reports to ensure good quality is maintained. In addition, a further £40,000 has been agreed to help with improvements, and the council is on track to receive a Government grant to deal with overpayment issues. That's the Home Secretay's local authority sorted out then.
"We have now managed to get rid of the backlog of claims - however, these things all take time and it won't all turn around overnight," added Coun Gandy.
The Audit Commission report confirmed the council has recognised its customers deserve better, is making plans to work on its weaknesses, and has shown "limited signs of improvement".
In the review, the Commission gave the town's benefits service a zero-star rating - the lowest possible - as it found claims are being processed too slowly, information provided is difficult to understand, and despite a 'robust' approach to combating benefit fraud the recovery of overpayments is not managed effectively, with high levels of error.
Responding to the report, Redditch Borough Council leader Coun Carole Gandy said: "The benefits service was excellent in the years 2005 to 2006 - however, there was no formal way of monitoring it and so no way for members to be aware of how rapidly it was declining. It wasn't excellent, then, was it.
"A combination of factors, including extended sick leave and a lack of investment in the service meant it more or less went into freefall."
She went on to state that in November, before the audit took place, £25,000 was ploughed into the service to help with the recruitment of more staff as council members became aware it was struggling, particularly as the number of people claiming started to rise dramatically.
Coun Gandy added: "The number of claimants in Redditch has increased by 145 per cent, which is actually the seventh highest increase in the country and it put a huge strain on the service.
"Once we were aware what was going wrong we did everything we could to help right the situation."
This included putting a performance framework in place to monitor not only the benefits service but other departments too, with regular reports to ensure good quality is maintained. In addition, a further £40,000 has been agreed to help with improvements, and the council is on track to receive a Government grant to deal with overpayment issues. That's the Home Secretay's local authority sorted out then.
"We have now managed to get rid of the backlog of claims - however, these things all take time and it won't all turn around overnight," added Coun Gandy.
The Audit Commission report confirmed the council has recognised its customers deserve better, is making plans to work on its weaknesses, and has shown "limited signs of improvement".
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