Scarborough Borough Council says it will continue pursuing a “zero tolerance” policy to benefit fraud, after a man was convicted of receiving more than £1,000 he was not entitled to.
Richard Hilton Lancaster had pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of fraud and dishonestly retaining payments adding up to £1,302.
After being found guilty by a jury to 12 of the charges, he was sentenced to an 18 month conditional discharge, plus a compensation order was made for the whole of the council tax benefit overpayment balance. Lancaster was also ordered to pay £500 costs.
Judge Michael Mettyear said the case had a “tortuous history” and though acknowledged the defendant had been going through a bad time, said he had been his “own worst enemy”.
Scarborough Borough Council’s Head of Finance and Asset Management, Nick Edwards, said: “The council has always adopted a zero tolerance approach to fraud and has a clear moral duty to pursue offenders.
“The defendant's failure to meet with officers at an earlier stage has incurred costs to the taxpayer and unnecessarily prolonged the case. The defendant could have avoided this had he acted responsibly throughout and we are pleased the Judge recognised this in his comments.
“I hope this case sends a strong message to anyone who is tempted to commit fraud, that you will be asked to fully account for your actions and, if needs be, this will be at court.”
The council’s fraud investigation team had worked jointly with officials from the Department for Work and Pensions to bring the prosecution.
Lancaster offered the defence that he had made mistakes on his benefit forms and failed to turn up for interviews with fraud investigators due to having had a mental breakdown.
While acknowledging Lancaster’s personal difficulties, Judge Mettyear said Lancaster had gone through a “rigmarole with the courts”, costing the public purse each time, instead of meeting with investigators when repeatedly requested, or dealing with court proceedings at an earlier stage.
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