Benefit fraud

A Corby woman was overpaid almost £60,000 in benefits after failing to tell the authorities she was living with her husband.

Anne Klemis, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit at a court hearing last month.

Northampton Crown Court heard how Klemis, of Westfield Road, had claimed housing benefits as a single parent.

She had a child with then-partner Dean Kennedy in 2009 but did not tell Corby Council of their relationship. Kennedy began living with her in August 2012 and Klemis failed to declare they were co-habiting each time she filled out a council means form - meaning she received an automatic payment which was too much.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) began investigating Klemis’ claims and it soon became apparent the pair had got married in 2014.

Prosecuting, James Dean told the court that Kennedy began registering items to Klemis’ address - and even told Corby Council he was living there.

He said: “He gave his address as Westfield Road on a number of personal accounts. He registered his mobile phone, a loan agreement and his driving licence there. In June 2014 he went to Hays and gave Westfield Road as his address and Ms Klemis as an emergency contact. In January 2015 he even told Corby Council that was his address.”

In total, Klemis was overpaid £58,366.32.

Mitigating, Julie Warburton said this was a case of “on-off” co-habiting and that Klemis had already made a repayment of £100. (!)

She said: “The information I have is that they are still not living together in any formal capacity. Although she is in receipt of benefits there are continuing deductions. She is fully aware that she will be paying this back for a very long time, possibly even the rest of her life.”

Sentencing Klemis to six months in prison suspended for two years, Recorder Huston said: “Your case is that he was not contributing to you or your children. But you got married to him and he registered at your address and you did not notify anyone. It’s clear that these offences are serious but because of your good character and everything I have heard the custodial sentence will be suspended. This matter is not going to go away and it will take you many years to repay it.”

Klemis was also ordered to partake in a rehabilitation programme for 20 years.

Source

Good character? She stole nearly £60,000 over several years.

A woman who committed a £49,000 tax fraud while employed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Naila Ali claimed £49,837 in tax credits over a 13 year period, but failed to declare her full circumstances and the fact she was living with her husband and drawing a joint income. The 46-year-old was working at HMRC’s Russell Street office, in Middlesbrough, in an administrative role when the fraud was uncovered by investigators.

During the course of the scam Ali, from Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, splashed out on a £175,000 house and paid for its renovations, it was discovered.

Joff Parsons, head of internal governance criminal investigations at HMRC, said: “For more than a decade, Ali pocketed thousands of pounds knowing that she wasn’t entitled to it. She is now paying the price for stealing money that should have been paid to those who really needed the extra support.”

The defendant admitted being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent payment of tax credits, totalling £49,837, between 2003 and 2016. She has since repaid the full amount after being given a chance to return the funds.

Sentencing her at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Sean Morris said she had only avoided custody by the skin of her teeth.

He said: “Bearing in mind the country has all of its money back, I don’t see why the country should have to pay out to put you up in a room in a prison. What you can do is work for free for the country instead. Your motivation was not greed, but insecurity that you would be left to fend for yourself. This money was squirreled away in case that happened.”

Ali received a six month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, and was also ordered by the judge to carry out 120 hours unpaid work in the community.

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A couple who fraudulently claimed more than £80,000 in welfare benefits to pay off their debts have escaped jail terms.

Donna Spence, 49, and Lee Millard, 45, both from Shoebury, claimed a raft of benefits they were not entitled to during a six year period. They failed to declare employment income. Spence was claiming benefits from November 2008, which included money for her partner Millard - who they declared did not have any income.

The Department of Work and Pensions launched an investigation after discovering Millard had, in fact, started full time work on March 1, 2009.

Gordon Collins, from the central operations team, said: “Following an investigation it was established that Lee Millard had started work and Donna Spence had failed to declare this change of circumstances to both the Department of Work and Pensions and Southend Council. It was established that Donna Spence had known that this change had to be reported but did not report the change as she was in debt and wanted the extra money to pay her debts off. It was also established that Lee Millard had known that Donna Spence should have reported the change but encouraged her not to report the change in order to obtain monies that she was not entitled to.“

The couple received £16,672 employment support allowance, £29,059 in income support, £21,108 in Housing benefit and £3,813 council tax benefit they were not owed.

They both pleaded guilty to three counts of benefit fraud by failing to declare a change of circumstances between March 1, 2009 and February 15, 2015 during earlier appearances at Southend Magistrates Court. They have now each been given six month suspended jail sentences at Basildon Crown Court, and have been ordered to undergo 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

Andrew Moring, councillor responsible for corporate and community support in Southend, said: “This is another good example of the joint work that we do with the Department of Work and Pensions to protect the public purse and take action against those committing fraud. Whilst it is quite right that we pay benefits to those that are entitled to them, it is wrong for someone to commit fraud and obtain benefits when they do not qualify for them by holding back information from us.”

Mr Moring added: “Benefit fraud is not a victimless crime. It takes money away from council taxpayers which is not then available to support other vital frontline services such as social care, and we will take appropriate action wherever we find evidence of fraud being committed.”

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A teaching assistant who swindled almost £80,000 in state handouts will spend Christmas in jail after a judge warned benefits cheats to expect more than 'a slap on the wrist'.

Mother-of-three Maliha Parveen was previously convicted of scamming £12,000 from the taxpayer and given a community order - but began over-claiming just three years later.

The former council worker, 65, claimed a range of handouts while working at Redwood secondary school in Rochdale.

She called on the judge to spare her a jail term, insisting one of her daughters is in an abusive arranged marriage and another is unwell. But Judge Jonathan Foster QC handed her an eight-month sentence, hitting out at cheats who think they can get away with it.

He said: 'This is not the first time this has happened and the long and short of it is you haven't learnt your lesson from last time. Benefit fraud is a prevalent offence and people think they can get away with it because they will only get a slap on the wrist. This money is intended for the provision of community services and paid for by every citizen like me and all the other people in court. You must know that not only from your conviction but also from your background.'

The judge added: 'The most important thing is for you to realise and for the public to realise that these offences will be punished by immediate imprisonment, whatever the mitigation.'

Julian Goode prosecuting said: 'Claims forms have tick box questions and she ticked 'no' to confirm she was not in employment. Yet she was working for Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council since 2004 and since September 2008 she was working as a teaching assistant at Redwood school which is for students with learning disabilities. Between 2008 and 2009 she was working 10 hours a week and between October 2009 and September 2015 she was working 15 hours a week. She was on average £8.43 per hour. The duration of the fraud was 409 weeks and four days. She was interviewed and accepted the claims were dishonest, claiming she did it due to the financial pressure she was under at the time.'

The court heard Parveen had started claiming benefits in 2000 over a string of medical complaints including angina, high blood pressure, arthritis, high cholesterol and depression.

In 2008 she got a job at the school - which helps pupils with learning difficulties - but failed to notify DWP that there had been a reduction in mobility restrictions and care needs. From December 2007 to September 2012 she made false representations in relation to Income Support, where she failed to disclose she was working and between September 2012 to October 2015 she pocketed Employment Support Allowance.

Income Support fraudulently obtained was £13,852, Disability Living Allowance was £14,908, Employment Support Allowance was for £12,781, Council Tax benefits was for £2,424 and Housing Benefits totally £35,319.

Parvenn, who admitted benefit fraud charges, wept as the judge passed sentence. In mitigation defence counsel William Staunton, said his client had passed British citizenship tests and her family were paying back the stolen money at £150 per week.

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A woman who pocketed over £50,000 by claiming false benefits and targeting vulnerable people has been ordered to pay back a token amount of £1. (h/t Dave)

Maria Pridmore, 36, was jailed for three years in August after she admitted a string of frauds. They included obtaining more than £16,000 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support.

Pridmore, who was described in court as a "Walter Mitty" fraudster, also stole over £30,000 from four women.

She appeared by video-link at Lincoln Crown Court from Drake Hall prison in Staffordshire, where she is serving her sentence.

The court heard Pridmore, a former drug addict, benefited by £56,679 from her crimes but had no available assets which could be confiscated to pay back her victims. Judge Simon Hirst ruled that in the circumstances a nominal sum of £1 should be paid.

Pridmore made news in 2012 when she gave birth to a daughter after previously suffering 14 miscarriages, a stillbirth and the death of an infant son.

At her sentence hearing, the court heard the former nurse had been claiming to be a lone-parent with dependent children in order to get benefits, but at various times failed to declare she had moved or was living with her then partner as man and wife.

Pridmore also pocketed more than £30,000 from friends and two elderly women, and used the bank details of one of her victims to pay for a £60 taxi fare to attend a court hearing. She stole almost £8,000 from one victim, an 84-year-old vulnerable woman.

Pridmore, from Holbeach, Lincolnshire, previously admitted seven charges of benefit fraud between August 2010 and March 2013, 19 charges of fraud and theft between January 2013 and May 2016 and stealing her father's flat-packed kitchen in April 2015.

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The corporate fraud investigation team of Argyll and Bute Council has recovered almost £80,000 in its first year.

It will now continue its anti-fraud activities on a permanent basis as it pays for itself.

The team – formed in October 2015 – is responsible for investigating revenue and benefit, council tax, non-domestic rates and other corporate fraud as well as acting as a single point of contact for ongoing housing benefit fraud investigations.

At the end of its first year of operation in September, the team had already detected £175,000 of fraud and successfully recovered almost half of that figure (£79,535) with work ongoing to recover the remainder of the outstanding money.

The council has now agreed that the two investigators – which have until now been temporary – should be made permanent posts on the basis of them being self-financing.

This will allow the team to continue to successfully investigate and detect those fraudulently claiming single person discount, evading empty dwelling double charge as well as fictitious tenancies and other fraud.

Councillor Dick Walsh, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, said: “If our Corporate Fraud Investigations Team had not been in place a significant amount of fraud would have gone undetected and fraudulent activity would no doubt have carried on. Our small team is carrying out extremely important work and achieving great results. It has already proved its worth; it is self-financing and is helping to strengthen the council’s response to fraud.”

The team was formed following the transfer of the council’s housing benefit fraud team from the council to the Department of Works and National Pensions Single Fraud Investigation Team.

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Andrew Dunn presents research which finds that many unemployed people prefer living on benefits to undertaking jobs which would increase their income, but which they consider unattractive.

There is of course the additional problem of declared underemployment - to remain within the embrace of benefits.

But governments like a quiet life, so they prefer to let these sleeping dogs lie. If they wanted to know more, they would only have to conduct a detailed pilot in a small area.

But it is more convenient for them not to know.

The Mail reveals what it claims are the most bizarre benefit frauds of 2016

But what's most interesting is its account of the national benefits totals.

A record £1 billion was recovered from thousands of offenders who were brought to justice for wrongly claiming welfare over the last 12 months.

The Government pays out a whopping £172 billion in benefits to around 20 million people every year.

It reports there were 5,000 convictions of benefit fraudsters over the last year, which is a nice round number.

This represents tinkering with the problem, as we will continue to report.

Happy new year to our readers.

A serial benefits cheat who enjoyed holidays in Spain and Egypt has been jailed for a year after she was caught defrauding the public purse out of nearly £35,000.

It was the third time Hull mother-of-two Amanda White, 50, had fraudulently claimed benefits.

White, who failed to declare she was living with her partner, was overpaid £34,773.68 in tax credits between May 22, 2008, and January 1, last year.

During that time, White – who earned £850 a month for a 30-hour week as a cleaner – took holidays in Majorca in 2014, and Egypt the following year, Hull Crown Court heard.

She had a previous conviction for making a false statement to claim benefits in 1996, and was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work in 2005 for making a dishonest representation to obtain benefits.

She admitted benefit fraud.

Jailing her for a year, Judge Simon Jack told her: "I'm told in the pre-sentence report that you struggle to identify the victims of your offending. Well let me make it perfectly clear; the victims of anybody who fraudulently obtains benefits are every single hard-working tax payer in this country. The people who work hard and pay their taxes, and they expect their taxes to go on running essential services, like the NHS. People like you who receive benefits to which you are not entitled reduces the amount of money which is available to run essential services – the law-abiding members of society are the victims of your offending."

Claire Holmes, prosecuting, said the Department for Work and Pensions became aware of White's circumstances because she had been listed as her partner's emergency contact with his employers since 2004, and was also the person identified to receive any death benefits "should he die in service". The couple had also held a joint HSBC bank account since 1997, which described them as living together. They described themselves as partners and gave the same address when making a voluntary arrangement with a finance company in 2011, Miss Holmes said.

White said she had a "sporadic" relationship with her partner, who worked away as a seaman.

David Godfrey, for White, said of her partner: "He didn't always return to the family home. There was some suspicion he had another family somewhere. Her financial circumstances are in a mess, and that's always been the root cause of her difficulties. She finds it difficult to manage her finances; there are numerous county court judgements against her. She is a woman who has made a grave error of judgement, again."

White sobbed as she was led away to the cells.

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Berlin police have detained a Tunisian man suspected of eating dinner with Anis Amri the night before he drove a lorry into a crowded Christmas market.

Twelve people died in the 19 December attack. Amri fled to Italy and was shot dead by police in Milan.

Investigators believe Bilel A, aged 26, was either involved in planning the attack or at least knew about it.

Police say they have arrested him on suspicion of benefit fraud as they do not have enough evidence against him.

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Over £6.5 million worth of benefit fraud was uncovered in the Black Country and South Staffordshire by Department of Work and Pension(DWP) investigators in 2016.

And that did not include minor fiddles, each involving £2,000 or less, which are estimated to have added millions more to the total value of the blitz.

Cases handled by DWP investigators resulted in 182 successful prosecutions while there were also 104 administrative penalties issued.

These allow those involved in frauds of less than £5,000 to avoid going to court by paying back the stolen benefit money with a surcharge of up to half that amount added to the repayment figure.

Almost 1,500 people living in the area were investigated.

So a very low proportion led to penalties.

Officials are also doing more than ever with Proceeds of Crime legislation to claw back the money pocketed by cheats.

People like 67-year-old trickster Thomas Wilkinson from Bournes Hill, Halesowen, who pocketed benefits by claiming to be unable to walk very far as a result of osteoarthritis – while appearing on stage throughout the country at £250-a-time in a Blues Brothers tribute act for seven years before the racket was uncovered. He was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was then ordered to repay almost £22,000 within three months or be locked up for seven months.

Scheming mother of two Wendy Robinson, 52, admitted a near £100,000 ten year benefits theft and received an 18 month jail sentence suspended for two years because of her ill health after she appeared at Birmingham Crown Court in a wheelchair. She was among those caught out by a specialist surveillance team recently added to the DWP investigations team in Central England.

Another was 72-year-old conman Paramjit Randhawa, from Goldthorn Park, who pocketed disability living allowance while claiming to be scarcely able to walk 10 metres until pictured striding along a treadmill for 50 minutes during a keep fit session that also included squat thrusts and leg raises, at a gym in Bentley Bridge. He was given eight months in prison suspended for 18 months and later ordered to repay more than £20,000.

There are three DWP offices in the Black Country, where almost £5.2 million frauds were uncovered and one in South Staffordshire where over £1.6 million worth of scams were uncovered.

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A shamed parish councillor, who was convicted last month after falsely claiming tax benefit, was noticeably absent from the first council meeting of the new year.

Alex Slater, who sits on Hazlemere Parish Council (HPC), did not attend the full council meeting on Tuesday evening, and councillors commented on his absence from other meetings he was expected to attend as a member.

The former Wycombe District councillor falsely claimed more than £1,500 in council tax reduction benefit while he was a member of WDC, after failing to declare that tenants were living in his Hazlemere home, in Holmoak Walk, between 2013 and 2015.

Slater – who now lives in Aylesbury – has paid back the amount he claimed.

Slater told the Bucks Free Press he was “genuinely sorry” and would be taking some time off to consider his position on HPC – a decision that, councillors said at the meeting, the council had not made aware of.

At the meeting, cllr Judy Weaver was temporarily asked to take over from Slater as the council representative for Chepping’s Local Access Forum (LAF) and it was decided that whichever councillors were able to, would attend meetings of the Wycombe Association of Local Councils (WDALC) on Slater’s behalf, since he is the Hazlemere Parish Council representative for WDALC.

Slater added if members of HPC were to take a vote of no confidence against him he would “happily accept the result”.

He was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 140 hours unpaid work, and instructed to pay costs of £1,175 on December 14.

Self-made millionaire Kate Stewart cried in court as her husband was jailed over a £427,000 mortgage fraud.

Graham Stewart, 43, from Aintree, lied about his job and salary and provided forged documents to buy houses.

The convicted drug dealer later bought a BMW on finance before cancelling his direct debit and shipping it to Cyprus, where it “disappeared”.

After filing for bankruptcy, he hid assets including foreign villas and a £35,000 Rolex watch and sold his home to a company he was a beneficiary of. Liverpool Crown Court heard he had the audacity to then rent the house back to himself, while claiming more than £7,000 in housing benefits.

Mrs Stewart, 34, the former boss of Liverpool’s Heritage Markets, wrote to Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, saying her husband was now a changed man. But jailing him for five and a half years, Judge Flewitt said: “These offences represent an unbroken course of dishonest conduct.”

Property manager Stewart’s crimes came to light when he was investigated after filing for bankruptcy in 2010. He admitted three counts of obtaining services by deception and one of fraud between June 2004 and April 2007.

David Potter, prosecuting, said he secured advances of £172,500, £88,774 and £100,000 from mortgage lenders for homes in Gateacre, Maghull and Accrington.

He claimed to work for a company called All Trades Limited and earn up to £90,000 a year in wages and rental income. He made the same false claim to another lender for an £111,479 remortgage of the Lancashire property.

Stewart admitted theft after buying the BMW in 2008 with £58,000 of finance, but stealing it in July 2009. Judge Flewitt said: “You made relatively few payments before cancelling your direct debit mandate and arranging for the car to be shipped to Cyprus in the name of your brother, where it disappeared from view and out of reach of the finance company.”

The court heard Stewart hid documents from the Official Receiver revealing assets that could have cleared his debts. He admitted failing to hand over books, and four counts of concealing criminal property between November 2010 and December 2011.

This included two cash-generating villas in Cyprus and the Rolex watch - found in a safe at his home.

He tried to protect his Iris Park Walk, Maghull home by selling it to Cyprus-based NEFEA Limited, of which he was a beneficiary. Stewart admitted £7,257 of benefit fraud, which Judge Flewitt described as “a particularly cynical piece of dishonesty”. He said: “You rented it back and claimed housing benefit at the rate of £550 per month, even though you were in fact at the time enjoying a rent-free period.”

The crook admitted two breaches of a restraining order made during the investigation to curb his lavish lifestyle. He rented a £2,000 per month Aughton home - twice the amount he was allowed to spend - and paid £7,000 towards a BMW he later sold.

Stewart was jailed for seven years for conspiracy to supply heroin in 1999 and was still on licence at the time of the first offence.

Matthew Radstone, defending, said he had since married, had children and completely turned his life around, tackling his alcohol and drug problems. He said Stewart had suffered from serious mental health issues and had a depressive disorder.

Judge Flewitt said he would ignore a conviction in September 2012 for racially or religiously aggravated common assault “save to observe that, even during a period when you claim to have turned your life around, you still committed a further criminal offence”.

He said Mrs Stewart sent a letter about him becoming “an attentive and devoted husband and father” but could not overlook his criminal past. He said he agreed with the author of a pre-sentence report that: “The remorse he demonstrated appeared to be for the consequences of being discovered.”

Stewart was cleared of two charges of assaulting his wife last year, after the mum-of-three refused to support the prosecution. Mrs Stewart initially made a statement against her husband but later withdrew the allegations and refused to attend court.

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How slow can councils be?

Tenants who have made a false housing application – such as an unauthorised sublet – are being offered a “key amnesty” in a bid to free up local homes.

But from February the council says it’s starting a major clampdown on tenancy fraud, using data matching technology to net culprits. The aim is to make more council and housing association homes available for those in genuine need.

East Dunbartonshire Council and Antonine and Hillhead housing associations say the offer is open until January 31 - carrying on from the same deal offered in December.

It means anyone who has made a false housing application, or sublet their home without permission, or no longer stays in the property, will be given the chance – “no questions asked” – to avoid prosecution.

There are currently more than 5,350 social housing properties in East Dunbartonshire, of which around 3,500 are owned by the council.

The cost to the public purse for each case of tenancy fraud is said to be around £93,000, and it also deprives a family of a home.

Someone commits tenancy fraud if, for example, they give false information about themselves, or use false documents when applying for housing, or have a social housing tenancy already but live somewhere else. It’s also fraud to sublet all or part of the home to someone else without the consent of their landlord.

The council warns anybody committing tenancy fraud could not only face having a criminal record but could ultimately face a prison sentence.

Council leader Councillor Rhondda Geekie said: “We are experiencing an acute housing shortage in East Dunbartonshire and our social housing stock is vital to helping us address this. People subletting homes illegally are depriving another family of a permanent place to stay and it’s unfair to the thousands of people on our housing list, many of whom have been waiting a long time for a property. Anyone who hands in their keys to end their tenancy or removes their name from the waiting list during the amnesty will not have legal action taken against them and the council can re-let the properties to legitimate applicants. In these times of such financial constraints, it is more important than ever that we uncover all fraud against the Council. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that social housing is going to the people and families who need it.”

Stephen Macintyre, Director of Hillhead Housing Association, said: “In the past the Association has found it frustrating that its powers to deal with tenancy fraud have been very limited, but now this joint approach offers a more effective means of dealing with people who obtain a tenancy fraudulently. We hope that this amnesty will help to ensure that only those in genuine need of a home get one."

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Thirty-seven-year-old Ines Da Silva, of Shenley, and her partner, Gasonu Agogo, 38, have both been given eight months’ suspended prison sentences.

Da Silva had claimed she did not know where the father of her children was, when they were in fact living together.

When they appeared at Harrow Crown Court, the pair were given prison sentences suspended for 18 months and ordered to undertake 120 hours in unpaid work.

They were also ordered to pay prosecution costs, which totalled more than £4,500. The couple’s actions were described by the judge as “thoroughly dishonest and greedy”.

The pair obtained around £18,000 in housing benefit and more than £2,000 in council tax support from Hertsmere borough council between June 9, 2014 and January 3, 2016.

Da Silva had pleaded guilty to three counts of dishonestly making a false representation and two counts of furnishing a false document, while Agogo admitted two counts of forgery when they appeared in court in December last year.

The mum had claimed she was living alone in Shenley with her children, and had provided false tenancy agreements in May 2014 and May 2015 to support this. In addition, she wrote a letter to benefits officers suspicious of her living arrangements, claiming she did not know Agogo’s whereabouts.

However, following an investigation by Hertfordshire’s Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS), the real tenancy agreement was discovered which showed the pair had been living together since January 2015 and that Agogo, a company director, had been paying the monthly rent to the couple’s landlord.

The couple have since repaid £7,000 of the fraudulently claimed benefits, but the council will be submitting a confiscation order to recoup the full sum.

After sentencing, Cllr John Graham, Hertsmere’s property portfolio holder, said: “This couple were determined to cheat the system and cases like this must be brought to court. At a time when local government resources are finite, anyone who illegally claims support and benefits is taking help away from those who genuinely need it. If you suspect someone may be fraudulently claiming benefits to help with their tenancy or council tax or have fraudulently applied for a blue badge, contact us straight away.”

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A Turkish pensioner who was handed a council house and £177,000 in benefits after pretending to be Scottish is facing arrest after she failed to turn up for sentence.

Wheelchair-bound Catherine Maloney, who claims to be 62, first applied for asylum in the UK in 2002 under her Turkish name Katrin Butun. The application was rejected, she appealed the decision but lost.

Maloney then ‘remembered’ she had been born in Scotland in 2004 and produced a birth certificate in the name of Catherine Lynch – believed to be a Scottish ex-pat. She later changed her name by deed poll to Catherine Bridget Maloney and applied for a UK passport.

Maloney successfully applied for a council house on Bramley Hill, South Croydon, and pocketed £177,000 in income support allowance, housing benefit, council tax benefit and disability living allowance between April 2004 and July 2015.

The Turk, who is thought to be much older than 62, was arrested following an investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions and was convicted of three counts of dishonest representation to obtain a benefit in August last year.

Maloney, who speaks no English, refused to give evidence at her trial. She claims to not be able to pay back any of the money despite allegedly owning properties in Bodrum, Turkey.

Since her conviction she has been staying in the Gresham psychiatric ward in Beckenham, part of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, at the expense of the taxpayer, but it is unclear what her symptoms are.

Maloney was due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court today but refused to leave the ward.

Judge Owen Davies QC issued a warrant for Maloney’s arrest and said: ‘I know it is distasteful sending a woman to prison who is in a wheelchair but I do not believe a word she says. This case is going back some time now, I should at least find out from a doctor what her state of health is, or was, or might be. It is alleged she has properties in Bodrum in Turkey. There is no report of how she will repay the £177,000 not to mention the cost to the public of the care home where she currently resides is still outstanding.’

Speaking at an earlier hearing Judge Davies said: ‘This is a woman who has got no right to be in the country, has been here for many years at the public’s expense and has been convicted without her giving evidence at all in relation to a large amount of public funds.'

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A former council senior officer has been fined more than £30,000 after facing charges of housing fraud.

She was one of two sisters found guilty of unlawfully subletting their social housing properties.

Kathryn Adedeji and her sister, Blessing, of Greenwich and Tower Hamlets, were found guilty following a trial at The Old Bailey.

Kathryn, who was previously employed by Thurrock Council, and Blessing were both accused and found guilty of unlawful subletting, contrary to the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013. Kathryn Adedeji had sublet her social housing property over 22 months between March 2014 and December 2015 to her sister Blessing, who in turn had sublet her own social housing to other tenants.

Thurrock Council’s specialist Counter Fraud & Investigation Service initiated and led the investigation following a whistle blowing in July 2015.

Kathryn will have to pay a penalty fine of £10,000 and has 28 days to pay this and also prosecution charges of £23,000 and has six months to pay this.

The charges, which were brought under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013, follow an investigation by the council’s fraud team.

She was suspended by the council in December 2015 as part of the internal investigation.

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A woman who claimed she could only use one arm and so needed disability benefits was caught on video dancing to a Michael Jackson song at a wedding.

But actually she was working as a masseuse after turning the top floor of her home into a massage parlour.

Now, she has been jailed for three years after a jury found she had illegally pocketed over £539,000 over an 11-year period.

Teeside Crown Court heard that the 53-year-old lived a ‘lavish’ lifestyle, with prosecution pictures showing her outside the Eiffel Tower and dancing at a glittering wedding ceremony. Milligan, who illegally claimed seven different types of benefit, was also caught splashing in the sea and riding a bike.

She sat in a wheelchair for sentencing after a GP wrote a letter claiming she did have some health problems.

Via video link, Judge Howard Crowson said: ‘It was quite incredible to see you stepping swiftly from a chair and dancing with your husband. You portrayed yourself at the trial as the victim – a person wronged.’ But he slammed her for the ‘sophisticated’ fraud, in which she even blamed her carer at one stage for the con.

Her scam was only unearthed after a whistle-blower called the benefit fraud hotline, which then sparked a lengthy investigation which lasted for over three years.

In total, Milligan claimed £539,907.43 from 2002 by claiming hardship and severe disability. But despite her suffering from some issues, evidence showed she wasn’t as frail as she’d claimed.

Despite claims she could only walk 20 metres before experiencing excruciating pain, she was snapped doing an array of physical activities. And Judge Crowson questioned why someone with such difficulty moving around would build a massage parlour on the third floor of her home at the top of ‘steep’ stairs. Despite her denial, the Judge added: ‘She was clearly running a business. She was deceiving everyone.’

At the same time, Milligan was amassing a hefty property portfolio consisting of cheap houses, which included homes in South America, Durham and Luton.

She had one Venezuelan home from the outset of her claims in 1994, the court heard, while she got others from her ex-husband.

Among her biggest deceptions was from Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which she took around £170,000 from despite not permanently residing there.

Despite defence suggestions of suspending Milligan’s jail sentence, Judge Crowson said her health wasn’t bad enough to avoid custody.

Ben Reid, from the CPS’ specialist fraud division, said: ‘While Maribel Milligan had a genuine disability and was entitled to some support, she deliberately went about claiming more than £500,000 of taxpayer’s money. Through careful analysis of the evidence, the prosecution was able to demonstrate how these fraudulent benefit claims continued over a significant period of time.’

Source with pictures

Dog hairs led to the conviction of a woman for subletting her council home in Blackheath for nearly ten years.

Greenwich council is flagging up that it has successfully prosecuted a 47-year-old woman from Bath for a tenancy fraud worth £71,000.

The council say Jacqueline Hunt was awarded the two bedroom property in a mutual exchange from a housing association in September 2006. However in 2014 reports that dog hairs were causing a nuisance on the stairwell outside Ms Hunt’s property were made to the council. It was then established that Ms Hunt wasn’t a dog owner and the property was being sublet.

An investigation by officers from the council’s Unauthorised Occupation team confirmed that the property had been continually sublet shortly after Ms Hunt had obtained it in 2006. Further enquries by the council’s Internal Audit and Anti-Fraud team revealed Ms Hunt left the London area in 2005 to attend a university in Bath and had briefly returned to carry out the mutual exchange. The council says at no time did Ms Hunt advise that she was no longer living in the borough.

In early 2013 she presented herself to Bath and North East Somerset Council stating that she needed accommodation as she was to be evicted from her private dwelling.

Ms Hunt who pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and one of forgery was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years at Woolwich Crown Court on December 16. She was ordered to pay Greenwich council £2,840 within two years.

Judge Katz QC also recommended the council to pursue its financial losses from the fraud which are in excess of £71,000 as it was deprived of the use of the full use of the property.

Councillor Maureen O’Mara, the cabinet member for customer services, said: “The demand for social housing within the Royal Borough is at an all-time high. Ms Hunt deprived those in genuine need of a two bedroom property for almost 10 years and sublet it whilst bettering her own education and obtaining yet another social housing property in Bath. It’s encouraging to know that the Royal Borough is working in partnership with housing associations and other local authorities to help investigate and prosecute these individuals for their actions. Indeed Ms Hunt’s actions were deplorable and her selfish act has cost the Royal Borough over £71,000. It’s good to see every effort will be made to recover these losses from her. Let’s hope she has learned her lesson.”

Source

A Charlton housing association tenant who sublet his home has been prosecuted and ordered to repay more than £4,000.

Aldio Raji was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months and ordered to undertake 180 hours of unpaid work within the community at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday January 20. The 50-year-old was ordered to repay the unlawful rental profit he had made of £4,330.29, £500 in costs and a victim surcharge of £100.

Mr Raji had obtained a one bedroom property with Charlton Triangle Homes (CTH) at Valiant House in 1999 but in 2015 tenancy officers suspected he might be subletting it illegally.

Thanks to Government funding Greenwich council’s Unauthorised Occupation Team (UOT) was able to offer assistance in an investigation which discovered Mr Raji had been charging £800 rent for the property since June 2014.

Last October Mr Raji was charged with offences relating to the Fraud Act, the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act offence and one offence under the Protection from Eviction Act for having illegally removed a tenant from the property. He pleaded guilty to three charges when he appeared at Woolwich Crown Court last month.

Councillor Maureen O’Mara, the cabinet member for customer services, said: “The demand for social housing is at an all-time high for all social housing providers. Due to the excellent joint working of the Royal Borough and the CTA we have managed to catch another housing fraudster and another property has been returned. This will now be allocated to a Greenwich resident in genuine need.”

Source

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