t2uds

This months top 3 jailed benefit fraudsters in Spain.


- Janice Purdie, 62, from Hove, this month pleaded guilty to over £130,000 of benefit fraud and received a 12-month prison sentence. She failed to tell DWP that she owned a property in Spain and had numerous different bank accounts whilst she was fraudulently claiming Income Support, Pension Credit, Disability Living Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit over a nine-year period.

- Jimmy Rickner, 72, from Exeter, was this month jailed for six months for fraudulently claiming almost £50,000 of disability benefits and Pension Credit over eight years, when in fact he was living with his partner in one of two properties he owned in Spain.

- Thomas Wadham, 73, of Aylesbury, falsely claimed £37,000 of Housing Benefit and Pension Credit between 2007 and 2010 while he was living in Spain. He was sentenced to six months in jail in January and ordered to pay back all the money.

chrisjolly

[QUOTE=t2uds;11325004]This months top 3 jailed benefit fraudsters in Spain.


- Janice Purdie, 62, from Hove, this month pleaded guilty to over £130,000 of benefit fraud and received a 12-month prison sentence. She failed to tell DWP that she owned a property in Spain and had numerous different bank accounts whilst she was fraudulently claiming Income Support, Pension Credit, Disability Living Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit over a nine-year period.

- Jimmy Rickner, 72, from Exeter, was this month jailed for six months for fraudulently claiming almost £50,000 of disability benefits and Pension Credit over eight years, when in fact he was living with his partner in one of two properties he owned in Spain.

- Thomas Wadham, 73, of Aylesbury, falsely claimed £37,000 of Housing Benefit and Pension Credit between 2007 and 2010 while he was living in Spain. He was sentenced to six months in jail in January and ordered to pay back all the money.


Well done for finding those benefit cheats but do they pay any of the money back to the state?
It is such a pity that pensioners feel the need to cheat the system because being a non resident means no Pension Credit, Savings Credit and the other benefits of living in the UK.

EMR

When you leave the UK you also leave many of the benefits of residing in the UK .
Loss of some benfits s not a justifiable excuse to claim others.
The UK tabloids have been having a field day recently with stories and pictures of benefits claimants living it up in the sun , on holiday or otherwise.

scampicat

Some Benefits (mainly for sickness and disablity if you continue to meet the criteria) and State Pension are payable if you live in the EU. Means-tested Benefits such as Pension Credit, Income Support and Housing Benefit are not.

Some people on Sickness Benefit will NOT continue to meet the criteria and these are the ones claiming fraudulently.

encodeme

If Britain isn't good enough to live in .... why expect benefits to travel to your new home!!

davidinspain

I just wonder how much the "team" cost to put in place to catch these fraudsters Bureaucracy rarely comes cheap.I'd guess a tad over £5million.How it can be grabbed back can make an interesting read.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...yer-money.html

andyrich666

Nice little number for some Public servants wanting a bit of sun and getting paid for it !

Domino

I am sure someone will come along and tell us how much it "cost", but I always feel the exact opposite about it.
the people investigating will be employees so their salaries will be paid whether they are in Magaluf or Runcorn writing parking tickets. They haven't been employed for a special one off job.
so their only cost to the public purse would be expenses

The other thing is that such exercises enforce to others that there is no hiding place, if you are defrauding benefits then you will be found eventually. Just it takes alot of time and energy to do so.
But it is surprising how many are caught after falling out with their partner who tips the Benefits office the wink.

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davidinspain

I agree that lawbreakers should be found and punished.Just don't think a task force is , a simple bit of software that scanned everybody applying for housing benefit or Pension Credit with Spanish SIP card holders/Padron/NIE/Driving license would root most out at a budget price.I also agree that ex partners disgruntled ex friends and neighbors will account for a few.But just to change the subject slightly it may be cheaper all together if all benefits were payable in all EU countries why ESA is contributions based and non contributions based and Pension credit is means tested,when soon all pensions will be the same irrespective of monies paid in is quite odd

HBG

I don’t know about the rest of it and I’m not a grass, and I don’t know just how immoral this is supposed to be, but I know lots of people who don’t report a change in their partner’s circumstances, whether it’s a death or a win on the lottery.

Can you moralise about it? We’re spending 7 billion on an obsolete aircraft carrier, even more on the secret Trident submarines, does some Wally cheating the system out of a few pounds make any difference?

Of course it’s annoying when some extreme example of a benefit cheat hits the news, and my own view is that if they’re foreigners, they should immediately be deported.

jonboy

You have a good point, if they are cheating benefits then they should be deported back to Britain where they come from

Rosemary

They should indeed, they should also lose everything that they have bought with these illgotten gains.

Rosemary

HBG

Well, that’s about the strength of it. I worked my bollocks off when I was a kid. There was no future in Scotland despite Highers galore.

I took the Queen’s shilling, bastardised my beliefs, and earned good money because I didn’t give a ****. I’ve got a couple of medals on the shelf behind me - it’s bollocks, total bollocks.

andyrich666

Deported back to UK to claim more benefits, as that is what will happen.

Fredbargate

Anyone who claims benefits they are not entitled to should have to pay them back, plus be denied future benefits.

That would also include criminals who are employed in criminal activity whilst claiming unemployment benefits.