Friday, 27 February 2009

Dole cheat single mother given 100 years to pay back £70,000 in stolen
benefits

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:25 AM on 26th February 2009

A benefits cheat who illegally claimed more than £70,000 has been given
a staggering 100 years to pay back the cash.

For more than five years Caroline Wilson, 44, has ripped off taxpayers
by claiming £73,294 she wasn't entitled to.

But despite being found guilty of fraud, she has been ordered to repay
just £14 a week because of restrictions on what she can be forced to
pay.

This means it would take at least a century to pay back the amount in
fall.

And the mother-of-four, who is now jobless, is only repaying the cash
through benefits she still receives.

Susie Squire, campaigns manager for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said it was
a 'total disgrace' someone who abused the benefits system would never
pay the money back.

She said: 'This woman has taken advantage in the worst possible way and
the taxpayers has been asked to pick up the bill.

'It seems that even now, after she has been sentenced, it's the innocent
taxpayers that are being punished.'

Wilton, of Southsea, Hampshire, claimed income support, housing benefit
and council tax benefit on the basis she was single mother supporting
three young children.

In reality, she was living with her partner, who was the father of her
three children, and was also in full-time employment.

Wilton deliberately did not tell Portsmouth City Council or the
Department for Work and Pensions her partner was living with her.

She then used the weekly benefits of around £250 to pay for daily living
expenses.

In 2005 the authorities received an anonymous tip-off. Inquiries
revealed she had falsely claimed £73,294 between December 2001 and
February last year.

She denied her partner had been living with her.

But a jury found her guilty of four counts of benefit fraud after a
trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Referring to her false claims, Judge Gareth Cowling said: 'You're paying
some money back but you are never, ever going to pay it all back so the
public will be at a loss.'

Judge Cowling handed her a 12-month suspended prison sentence and a
three-month curfew, meaning she will have to stay at home between 9pm
and 6am every day.

He added: 'The authorities probably tell me you should go straight to
prison.

'I won't take that step, primarily because it would have a very
significant impact on your three children and your 20-year-old son.'

The payments were decided by the city council and the Department for
Work and Pensions.

Authorities are restricted in what they can claw back from benefit
cheats and there is no rule to prevent a convicted benefit fraudster
claiming again if it is legitimate.

Tony Nicholas, head of revenue and benefits at Portsmouth City Council,
said: 'We always assess a resident's ability to pay when recovering debt
but we want to recover overpayments like this as quickly as possible.

'But government regulations restrict the rate at which we can recover
the overpayments.'

Since the prosecution was brought, Wilton has split up with her partner.
As a result, she now gets benefit legitimately.

This is estimated to amount to more than £150 per week, excluding child
benefit or child tax credit.

A total of £13.95 is deducted from her benefit pay packet per week, with
£5 going to the council and £8.95 to the Department of Work and
Pensions.

Http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155942/Dole-cheat-single-
mother-given-100-years-pay-70-000-stolen-benefits.html