29 Jun 2011

Conditional discharge for £62k benefit fraud

An informant's tip-off led to the arrest and prosecution of a benefits cheat who had secret savings of £35,000 in a Spanish bank.

Steven Homes, from Bourne End, was handed a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £2,000 for the £62,000 fraud.

He was caught after an anonymous tip-off was passed to authorities and pleaded guilty to four counts of benefit fraud at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court.

From 2001-2010 the 53-year-old claimed housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support based on him having a very low income and negligible savings.

But a subsequent investigation found he had another source of income and had also failed to declare savings of just over £35,000 being held in a Spanish bank.

0 comments: