Fraud Press Releases
October 2007 "Woman pleads guilty to Benefit Fraud"
On Monday 22 October 2007, Kingston Council's Benefit Fraud Team successfully prosecuted 70 year old Pamela Freeman of Acre Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, for Benefit Fraud.
Mrs Freeman falsely claimed over £9,300 in Housing Benefit, by failing to declare a substantial inheritance, during her ongoing claim to benefits.
Mrs Freeman appeared at Kingston Magistrates Court on 22 October and pleaded guilty to two counts of Benefit Fraud. The Court noted that Mrs Freeman had cooperated fully with the investigators, offered an early Guilty Plea and had some exceptional circumstances in her case, and decided that a two year conditional discharge was sufficient sentencing in this case. This means that if Mrs Freeman commits any further offence within two years, the Court when sentencing for the new offence will review the sentence imposed in respect of the Benefit Fraud and may impose a more serious sentence.
As well as having to pay back the fraudulently obtained Benefit, Mrs Freeman was also ordered to pay £500 towards prosecution costs.
This investigation marks the success of Kingston Council's Benefit Fraud Team and should be seen as a warning to anyone committing benefit fraud, that it will not be tolerated.
Mary Tam, Head of Revenue and Benefit Services at Kingston Council said: "The message to those tempted to steal from the public purse is that there is now more chance than ever of being caught. The government is extending the role of data matching across government departments and will shortly be covering new areas such as single person discounts. In addition Kingston’s Benefit Fraud Team has been allocated more resources to deal with fraud detection. Therefore if anyone is committing benefit fraud or is tempted - be warned you face being caught, prosecuted and named and shamed as well as having to pay back all the benefit overpaid and you may incur costs."
The public can help by calling the anonymous benefit hotline on 020 8547 5700.
September 2007 "Local resident is forced to pay up after appeal is refused"
In July 2006, Ms Ruby Virk of Haygreen Close in Kingston Upon Thames was found guilty by a jury at Kingston Crown Court of 11 counts of Housing and Council Tax Benefit fraud. Ms Virk had inherited over £90,000, which she used to buy a property in Sutton in early 2003 – which she then let to a tenant for rental income. Later in 2003, Ms Virk purchased 2 further properties in the Kingston Borough and went on to let her second property to another tenant for further rental income, whilst she moved into the Haygreen Close property herself.
Ms Virk was subsequently sentenced to 200 hours of Community Punishment and ordered to repay the stolen benefit, as well as substantial prosecution costs to cover the Crown Court trial – at a grand total of £22,300.
Unhappy with the outcome of the case, Ms Virk tried to appeal against both the conviction and her sentence but, the ‘Court of Appeal’ refused Ms Virk permission to appeal – stating that the conviction and sentence stand. Ms Virk has now fully paid the prosecution costs of £11,150 and has also now paid back all the Housing and Council Tax Benefit that she fraudulently obtained.
Mary Tam Head of Revenues and Benefits said: “When a benefit claimant fails to declare all their income, savings and assets they will eventually be detected. The Council carries out extensive data matching with central government records together with other proactive measures in order to detect benefit fraud. Benefit overpayments resulting from a fraudulent claim have to be fully repaid which Ms Virk has now done.
Should anyone consider committing an offence they are warned they face being caught, prosecuted and named and shamed. Our benefit fraud team has an excellent track record of bringing culprits to justice and this is another successful outcome for them.”
February 2007 "Jury find Chessington man guilty of Benefit Fraud"
On Friday 23 February 2007, following a 3 day trial, 62 year old Roy Martin of Bailey Crescent, Chessington, Surrey, was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court of 4 counts of Housing and Council Tax Benefit Fraud.
Mr Martin first came to the Council’s attention through the National Fraud Initiative – a data matching exercise which identifies discrepancies in benefit claims. It was discovered that Mr Martin, who had been in receipt of Housing and Council Tax Benefit since July 1997, had failed to declare a private pension income from a former employer.
An investigation followed by the Royal Borough of Kingston Fraud Team which confirmed that Mr Martin had indeed failed to declare this pension to the Council, however further enquiries also revealed that Mr Martin had in fact failed to declare a second private pension from another former employer, as well.
At the trial before Kingston Crown Court, a Jury of 12 men and women found Mr Martin guilty of dishonestly failing to declare the two pensions, from May 2001. Mr Martin will now have to pay back over £16,500 in benefits that he was overpaid as a result of his failure to disclose the pensions.
On Wednesday 21 March 2007 the Judge, Recorder Parker, told Mr Martin that immediate imprisonment was an option, but that on this occasion, his failing health, previous good character and other mitigating circumstances constituted exceptional circumstances justifying a suspended sentence. He therefore imposed a 6 months prison sentence suspended for 2 years. If Mr Martin commits any further offence during that 2 year period the term of imprisonment may be activated.
Mary Tam Head of Revenues and Benefits said: "When a benefit claimant fails to declare all their income including private pensions, they will eventually be detected. The Council carries out extensive data matching with central government records together with other proactive measures in order to detect benefit fraud. Benefit overpayments resulting from a fraudulent claim have to be fully repaid and Mr Martin will have to repay the £16,500 to which he was not entitled. Should anyone consider committing an offence they are warned they face being caught, prosecuted and named and shamed. Our benefit fraud team has an excellent track record of bringing culprits to justice and this is another successful outcome for them."
September 2006 "Pay the Court £22,000 - Fraud ends up costing dishonest landlady a fortune"
A woman found guilty of benefit fraud was sentenced to 200 hours community service at Kingston Crown Court on Friday.
Ruby Virk, of Haygreen Close, Kingston, was also ordered to pay £22,300 towards the prosecution and defence costs of the trial. She had previously been found guilty by a jury on July 28 of 11 counts of Housing and Council Tax Benefit fraud following a five-day trial.
A Kingston Council Revenues and Benefits officer discovered Virk had become the owner of a property in Haygreen Close but was still claiming Housing and Council Tax Benefit at another address in the borough. A six-month investigation revealed she had inherited more than £90,000, which she used to buy a property in the borough, letting one and moving into the Haygreen Close property herself.
Throughout this time, she was claiming Housing and Council Tax Benefit based on receipt of Department of Work and Pension benefits and a very low income. She made false statement on application forms and failed to inform the Council about her inheritance, her properties, or any changes in her circumstances.
Virk was overpaid £16,480.90 in housing benefit and £1,374.46 in Council Tax Benefit, although she has now paid all of this back.
June 2006 "Custodial Sentence"
Benefits claimant Lisa McCallum appeared before His Honor Judge Binning at Kingston Crown Court, charged with five counts of falsely obtaining benefits in excess of £60,000.
In giving her a "handsome deduction" for her plea of guilty, the fact the she may have been entitled to some benefits and the delay in bringing the prosecution to court, the Judge said a custodial sentence was the only appropriate one to give and sentenced McCallum to 15 months imprisonment. She will serve half the sentence.
This was a joint prosecution with the DWP.
April 2006 "Benefit Fraudster made to pay back all she took"
A Surbiton woman has been sentenced to 150 hours community service after admitting £13,000-worth of Housing Benefit fraud.
Diane Craney, 52, from Surbiton Hill Park, claimed benefit as an unemployed person even though she had started working in a pharmacy. She will have to repay the money after pleading guilty to three charges of benefit fraud at Kingston Crown Court on Friday March 24. She admitted obtaining more than £13,000 in Housing and Council Tax Benefit between 2001 and 2003. Craney claimed the benefits initially because she had been made redundant and was unemployed and she had no savings or source of income, which in fact she did.
Head of Revenue and Benefit services, Mary Tam said, "When a benefit claimant is working without declaring those earnings to the benefit office, they will eventually be detected. The Council carries out extensive data matching with Government records together with other proactive measures in order to detect benefit fraud. Benefit overpayments resulting from a fraudulent claim will have to be fully repaid and Ms Craney will have to repay the overpayment in full. This is a successful outcome for the Council’s investigation team and their hard work was recognised by the court.”
Craney was ordered to pay £750 costs.
August 2005 "Council clamp down on benefit fraudsters"
Threats that benefit cheats will not be tolerated were issued last week after a 27-year-old New Malden man was prosecution for falsely claiming Housing Benefit.
Kieron Gordon, of Sussex Place, New Malden, pleaded guilty to claiming around £800 fraudulently by failing to notify authorities of a change in his circumstances. He escaped a serious penalty at the hearing on August 15 and received a six-month conditional discharge.
A spokesman for Kingston Council’s Housing Benefit fraud team said the case highlighted that benefit fraud would not be tolerated.
Greater powers mean that people’s bank accounts, utility bills and telephone bills can be checked to catch out cheats.
December 2004 "Benefit Fraudsters in Court"
On Tuesday 14 December 2004, Mr Anthony Ryan and Mrs Nicola Ryan appeared before the Kingston upon Thames Magistrates' Court in respect of benefit fraud allegations.
The allegations against Mr Ryan were that he had failed to give prompt notification of 2 changes of circumstance during an ongoing benefit claim. Mrs Ryan was charged with failure to give prompt notification of a change of circumstances during an ongoing benefit claim and submitting a further application for benefit after the change had occurred, but failing to disclose the change of circumstances.
Both Defendants pleaded guilty at the previous hearing (22/11/04) when the case was adjourned for pre-sentence reports to be prepared by the Probation Service. The reports recommended a combination of conditional discharge and a compensation order, given the fact that neither Defendant has a permanent address and consequently, the usual community punishment order was not considered appropriate by the Probation Service. The Court heard that the Authority does not seek compensation orders in benefit fraud cases, but seeks to recover overpaid benefit by direct deduction from ongoing benefit in the first instance.
The Court ultimately decided that each Defendant would receive a three year conditional discharge. This means that if either Defendant commits any further offence within the next three years, the Court when sentencing for the new offence may review the sentence imposed in respect of the benefit fraud offences and impose a different and perhaps more serious penalty.
The Court also ordered each Defendant to pay £150 towards the Prosecution's costs. In view of the Defendants' limited means, they were ordered to pay at the rate of £2.50 per month, the first payment being due on 17 January. The Court however wished to review the repayment rate since Mr Ryan indicated that he had been offered a job as a bus driver, subject to living in permanent accommodation. The Court therefore ordered him to return to the Court for a review hearing on 7 March.
December 2004 "Benefit Fraudster sent to Prison"
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames brought about a successful prosecution at Kingston upon Thames Magistrates’ Court on 7 December 2004 when Sarbjit Singh Billan (37) of Blagdon Road, New Malden, Surrey pleaded guilty to eleven allegations of Housing and Council Tax benefit fraud, over a five-year period.
Housing and Council Tax benefits are means-tested benefits payable to people on a low income, to assist with their housing costs. Claims are made to the local authority by way of an Application Form, that requires the applicant to provide details of their names, address, employment, income, capital, out-goings, dependants, partners and relationship to the Landlord. The claimant must then sign a declaration at the end of the form, confirming that the information they have given is correct and complete and further that they will notify the authority of any change in their circumstances which may affect their entitlement to benefit.
On the six application forms submitted to the Council by Mr Billan’s between 23/11/98 and 30/10/03, he stated that he had rented a property at Blagdon Road, New Malden, and paid rent to his landlord each month.; Mr Billan also submitted five false documents to the Council in support of his applications, including three fictitious Tenancy Agreements stating that his Landlord was Mr G Singh” and he requested that the benefit be paid directly to the landlord. In all, Mr Billan received the sum of £15,527.77 in Housing benefits before enquiries made by the Council’s Housing Benefit Fraud Investigators proved he owned the property at Blagdon Road. Also, whilst continuing to claim benefits, Mr Billan had purchased a further property in Sheen Road, Richmond for £250,000 with a mortgage. He then rented this property out but had failed to declare it on the last two applications.
In Mr Billan’s defence, a Psychiatrist’s Report was submitted to the court detailing how Mr Billan had been victim of a very serious assault in 2000: in addition, the court heard that Mr Billan had paid the Council back, in full, for the benefit he had received. His counsel Mr Vermasaid said that Mr Billan is now in a new relationship in Estonia; and that he is building a business and life for himself there.
Despite this, the Bench, before sentencing Mr Billan said, We have read the [Pre-Sentence\} report and taken into account what is said, the psychiatrist report, your guilty plea and the repayment of the benefit. The money you took represents a very serious offence. It was pre-meditated over a considerable period and you have a history of dishonesty. With this in mind, the only sentence we can pass is custodial.”
The Court then sentenced Mr Billan to five months imprisonment for each of the first two offences to run consecutively (i.e. 10 months), and a further 5 months for each of the remaining nine offences to run concurrently.
September 2004 " Benefit cheat's highest penalty"
A benefit cheat from New Malden who pleaded guilty to six charges of fraud was given a 240-hour community punishment order last week. Paul Sharp, 45, of Lincoln Road, pleaded guilty at Kingston Magistrates Court on July 19 and appeared there on August 10 for sentencing.
The court heard he had claimed more that £14,000 in housing benefit and income support from October 2001 to February 2004. During this time, incestigators found Sharp was working as a self-employed labourer for a company in Twickenham, but he never declared the money he earned because he knew the benefits would stop.
His 240-hour sentence is the maximum penalty.
The investigation was the result of a successful partnership between Kingston Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.
March 2004 "Teacher in £6k Benefits swindle remains in post"
A benefits cheat teacher from Kingston has admitted taking thousands of pounds from the borough’s coffers.
At Kingston Magistrates Court last Tuesday (March 9) Matthew Jolugbo, 40, of Homersham Road, was sentenced to a 160-hour community punishment order after ringing up more than £6,000 in fraudulent benefit claims.
Despite the conviction, Acton High School in west London has not sacked Jolugbo and the local education authority has only launched an internal investigation following his conviction.
Kingston council helped to catch the fraudster after local officials became suspicious if his benefits claims and contacted the Audit Commission’s National Fraud Initiative. An investigation revealed Jolugbo was working at Acton High School but claiming benefits from Kingston Council.
At court, the teacher was ordered to pay the council £300 and the Government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) £100.
While working at Acton High School, Jolugbo was claiming Job Seekers allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Half of the £6,000 he claimed was Kingston Council cash. He pleaded guilty to the charges in February.
A spokesman for Kingston council said, We have always taken a tough line on fraudsters and we would urge people to report any frauds they know about to us. We will continue to work with partner agencies to stamp out attempts to obtain benefits by fraudulent means and will prosecute when fraudulent claims are identified.”
Minister for fraud, Chris Pond, said, The DWP, in partnership with local authorities, is taking action against more fraudster than ever before. In 2002/2003, there were more than 32,000 prosecutions and sanctions. That’s an increase of nearly 50 per cent in just three years. Closer working with our partners means we know where and when people try to commit benefit fraud. Cheats should be warned – we’re on to you.”
Action High School refused to comment. But a spokesman for Ealing Local Education Authority said, We take this extremely seriously and are working with the school in dealing with the matter concerning this teacher. We will be taking the necessary appropriate action against the teacher, once we have received and reviewed all the facts relations to him in this particular case.”
January 2004 "71-year old fraudster"
A Tolworth man appeared in court this week charged with Housing Benefit fraud. Mr Subodh Kumar Paul, aged 71, of Raeburn Avenue, Tolworth, appeared at Kingston Magistrates Court on Monday, and pleaded guilty to one charge of making a false declaration on a Royal Borough of Kingston Housing Benefit application form.
Due to his age, guilty plea, the fact that no benefit was actually paid, and his previous good character, Paul was given a 12-month conditional discharge, with an order to pay all the prosecution’s costs of £625.
The chairman of the bench stressed the seriousness of the matter, adding that had housing benefit been awarded, Paul would have received a substantial amount of money. It was further stressed that should be appear before the court again within 12 months, he would be severely dealt with regarding this matter.
A spokesperson for the Housing Benefit assessors and fraud team investigators, said: We continue to be vigilant in the fight against benefit fraud in Kingston. We work close with colleagues in partner organisations, including the police, the Department for Work and Pension, Customs and Excise, Immigration and others, to ensure that those intent on committing benefit fraud in Kingston are brought to justice.”