Two recent court cases have highlighted the work
of our fraud investigators.
Jill Hay and her son Andrew Hay were both found guilty on June
16 at Bristol Crown Court of committing benefit fraud to the sum of
over £90,000.
For close on a decade fraudulent claims for housing and council
tax benefit were being submitted by the family to us and
Bristol City Council stating that there was rent liability on the
properties they were living in and benefit was paid.
Our corporate fraud team unravelled a complex fraud involving
them actually owning the properties including others in and around
the Bristol, Bath, Swansea and North Somerset areas.
For her part in the fraud Jill Hay (aged 71) from Backwell was
sentenced to a 36-week jail sentence suspended for two years and a
confiscation order was made by the court to realise the profit made
from the crime and obtain that on top of the £90,000 sum.
Andrew Hay received a 36-week jail sentence, suspended for two
years, and was also ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and
a three-month curfew order covering 8pm to 7am was imposed. A
confiscation order was also made.
On sentencing them both the judge said that they had both been
thoroughly dishonest, which should not and will not be
tolerated.
A mother of three has been jailed for five months for swindling
more than £70,000 in benefits.
For five years Maxine Ireland claimed income support, housing
benefit and council tax benefit on the basis that her husband Paul
Rutherford was not living with the family.
But together with the Department for Work and Pensions we
investigated the claims when Mr Rutherford signed a credit
agreement saying he was living at the Clevedon property.
Bristol Crown Court heard that Ireland, 40, of Old Street, had
never worked and started claiming benefits in 1990. She married Mr
Rutherford in 2004 but after they had a son the following year
Ireland put in a claim for benefits, saying her husband did not
live with her.
Between 2004 and 2009 Ireland claimed £71,500 which she wasn't
entitled to – £44,182 in income support, £22,943 in housing benefit
and £4,557 in council tax benefit.
She later admitted failing to notify of a change of
circumstances that could affect a benefit claim and in interview
she said she and her husband had married on a Saturday, had an
enormous argument and the relationship had broken down by the
Monday - he lived in his car and at friend's house and that she
didn't have a partner who was in work living at the address.
But Her Hon. Judge Carol Hagen said: "The fact of the matter is
that you claimed £70,000 to which you were not entitled over five
years, and the sentence has to reflect that fact."
Cllr Tony Lake, executive member whose portfolio includes
revenues and benefits, commented: "We do investigate fraud, working
closely with other organisations such as the Department for Work
and Pensions, pooling information. We will prosecute and take all
the steps possible to recoup benefits claimed fraudulently."
If you have information about possible benefit fraud
call our confidential hotline on 01275 882 924.
