A reader writes, "always start 'legitimate', then miracle cure. Of course, if they had not started working, this would probably never come to light".
A couple who claimed they were too ill to cook their own meals were actually running a café, while illegally pocketing £135,000 in benefits.
Caroline Banks and Karl Bradsell were jailed after deceitfully claiming cash from the state for five years, before a sting by council bosses and the DWP saw them brought to justice.
After a tip-off, an investigation was launched, with CCTV and secret footage proving their lies.
Banks, of Hills Court, Bury, was jailed for 16 months and Bradsell, of Chaffinch Drive, Bury, for 19 months at Bolton Crown Court. They pleaded guilty to 24 fraud charges at an earlier hearing.
The pair, who are no longer together, worked at Riscatti’s Café on Bury Market, despite claiming their illnesses were so bad that they couldn’t cook for themselves, and that one of them couldn’t even walk.
Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, told the court Banks, 42, said she was unable to walk unaided, needed a wheelchair and had to get help to go to the toilet. She claimed to have a long list of illnesses, including a slipped disc in her back, angina and depression. Her home had been adapted with a stairlift and a wet room while she was claiming Disability Living Allowance, Employment Support and Housing Benefit, among others. She also had a mobility car so friends and family could drive her around. But Banks, who sobbed throughout the hearing, was filmed working long days on her feet, lifting tables and chairs and serving customers at the café. On one occasion, she was even spotted wearing high heels.
Defending Banks, Stuart Duke said her initial benefit claims had been legitimate, but that the situation spiralled into ‘dishonesty and deceit’. She was overpaid £62,000 and will pay back the cash from her benefits. Mr Duke said: “Ironically, since these offences came to light, both her physical and mental health have deteriorated. She has fallen into abject poverty and is unable to walk.”
But as the picture shows, she can still smoke standing up.
Bradsell, also 42, said he rented the council house next door to Banks and was single. In truth, he lived with Banks in her adapted home while he sub-let his house to his brother. He claimed to suffer from epilepsy and depression and said he hadn’t worked since 2005, when questioned in 2012. He said his condition was so bad that he had fits every couple of days and suffered panic attacks, often wetting himself. He said he couldn’t drive because of his epilepsy and that he used a microwave because he was afraid of using the cooker. But he was filmed driving Banks’ mobility car to and from the cafe, where he cooked and cleaned. He even used the vehicle to deliver food for a local Chinese takeaway at night.
Defending Bradsell, Michael Lea said he accepted he had exaggerated to claim benefits. He now has a job helping older people and is paying back around £140 a week out of his wages to refund the £73,000 he fraudulently claimed.
Sentencing, Judge Elliot Knopf said the pair’s crimes were a ‘slap in the face to the taxpayer’ and those ‘genuinely and honestly entitled to benefits’:
Coun Sandra Walmsley probably lies. It seems they had no idea about the deception until they were tipped off.
How many more benefit frauds is Coun Sandra Walmsley unaware of?
A couple who claimed they were too ill to cook their own meals were actually running a café, while illegally pocketing £135,000 in benefits.
Caroline Banks and Karl Bradsell were jailed after deceitfully claiming cash from the state for five years, before a sting by council bosses and the DWP saw them brought to justice.
After a tip-off, an investigation was launched, with CCTV and secret footage proving their lies.
Banks, of Hills Court, Bury, was jailed for 16 months and Bradsell, of Chaffinch Drive, Bury, for 19 months at Bolton Crown Court. They pleaded guilty to 24 fraud charges at an earlier hearing.
The pair, who are no longer together, worked at Riscatti’s Café on Bury Market, despite claiming their illnesses were so bad that they couldn’t cook for themselves, and that one of them couldn’t even walk.
Peter Cadwallader, prosecuting, told the court Banks, 42, said she was unable to walk unaided, needed a wheelchair and had to get help to go to the toilet. She claimed to have a long list of illnesses, including a slipped disc in her back, angina and depression. Her home had been adapted with a stairlift and a wet room while she was claiming Disability Living Allowance, Employment Support and Housing Benefit, among others. She also had a mobility car so friends and family could drive her around. But Banks, who sobbed throughout the hearing, was filmed working long days on her feet, lifting tables and chairs and serving customers at the café. On one occasion, she was even spotted wearing high heels.
Defending Banks, Stuart Duke said her initial benefit claims had been legitimate, but that the situation spiralled into ‘dishonesty and deceit’. She was overpaid £62,000 and will pay back the cash from her benefits. Mr Duke said: “Ironically, since these offences came to light, both her physical and mental health have deteriorated. She has fallen into abject poverty and is unable to walk.”
But as the picture shows, she can still smoke standing up.
Bradsell, also 42, said he rented the council house next door to Banks and was single. In truth, he lived with Banks in her adapted home while he sub-let his house to his brother. He claimed to suffer from epilepsy and depression and said he hadn’t worked since 2005, when questioned in 2012. He said his condition was so bad that he had fits every couple of days and suffered panic attacks, often wetting himself. He said he couldn’t drive because of his epilepsy and that he used a microwave because he was afraid of using the cooker. But he was filmed driving Banks’ mobility car to and from the cafe, where he cooked and cleaned. He even used the vehicle to deliver food for a local Chinese takeaway at night.
Defending Bradsell, Michael Lea said he accepted he had exaggerated to claim benefits. He now has a job helping older people and is paying back around £140 a week out of his wages to refund the £73,000 he fraudulently claimed.
Sentencing, Judge Elliot Knopf said the pair’s crimes were a ‘slap in the face to the taxpayer’ and those ‘genuinely and honestly entitled to benefits’:
You put your heads together and agreed to consciously, deliberately and persistently defraud the system. You painted a completely and utterly false picture of your conditions - you knew the buttons to press.After the hearing, Coun Sandra Walmsley, Bury council’s cabinet member for resource and regulation, said: “This was a deliberate and breathtaking act of fraud, carried out over a long time and involving huge sums of money. Thanks to the determined efforts of our investigators, Bradsell and Banks have finally been brought to justice.”
Coun Sandra Walmsley probably lies. It seems they had no idea about the deception until they were tipped off.
How many more benefit frauds is Coun Sandra Walmsley unaware of?