Fraudster mum who stole £37k jailed

Monday June 15, 2009

A mother-of-two who played the benefits system for a decade has been jailed for eight months for dishonestly claiming over £37,000.

Unemployed Julie Cook, 38, squirrelled away £37,645.67 in housing and council tax benefits from Hammersmith & Fulham Council and income support, despite not having lived in the borough for at least five years.

Cook received overpaid housing benefits of £3,263, £3,589 in council tax benefit and £30,792 in income support. She pleaded guilty to ten charges under the Theft Act and Social Security Administration Act and was sentenced on May 29 at Kingston Crown Court. Cook has also agreed to pay back all the money she stole from the council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Councillor Greg Smith, H&F cabinet member for crime and street scene, said: “Cook effectively put her hand straight into the hard-working taxpayer’s pocket and took what she wanted. The sheer audacity of this woman and her crime is incredible, especially at a time when so many honest people are feeling the financial pinch.”

Cook had been claiming benefits since 1998 but suspicions were aroused in 2005 when she bought her flat in Riverside Gardens, Hammersmith, through the Right to Buy scheme - even though Cook said she did not have any savings.

A joint investigation between H&F Council and the DWP showed that Cook had not been living at her Hammersmith address since at least September 2003, and was renting out the flat. Yet Cook did not declare this income and was still claiming benefits.

Despite all her post still being mailed to Riverside Gardens, Cook had actually moved to Slough, which was confirmed by registration forms at a local doctor’s surgery, her bank account details and when her eldest child started school in the town.

It also emerged that Cook had sold a property she owned in Slough in October 2002 and had received £37,886 for it. This money was never declared to either the DWP or H&F. Cook initially claimed that the property belonged to a friend and the money was not hers, even though it remained in her bank account and was used to pay for Cook’s every day living expenses.