Double benefits cheat sting
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
07/10/2008
A double swoop by council fraud investigators has given two greedy scroungers a rude awakening.
The first fraudster swindled more than £60,000 in benefits and now faces months behind bars.
Shamed Eunice Johnston tried to dupe Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council out of housing and council tax benefit but was caught red-handed when a council probe found she had bought three properties in Peckham.
West London Magistrates Court heard how Johnston, 45, posed as a single, unemployed parent to scoop taxpayers’ cash illegally. In reality, Johnston had a series of, up to ten, part-time jobs. While she was dishonestly working, including jobs as a cleaner and an administrator, Johnston was claiming thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ cash.
She even had the nerve to buy three plush properties in Peckham with her ill-gotten gains. To rub salt in the wound, the court heard she then rented these properties out, while living with her partner, to satisfy her greed further.
Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Council Cabinet Member for Crime & Anti-Social Behaviour, says, “Our team of anti-fraud investigators are experts at sniffing out these cheats. We take our duty to spend taxpayers’ cash responsibly very seriously and when these fraudsters do crop up, our zero tolerance swoops stop them in their tracks.”
Johnston pleaded guilty to all the charges and, due to the seriousness of the offence, sentencing was adjourned to a Blackfriars Crown Court.
In a second sting, 40 year-old Kelly O’Brien was convicted of five counts of benefit fraud. O’Brien, now of Market Place, NW11, sponged more than £8,000 in housing and council tax benefits on the grounds that she also got income support.
But council investigators discovered that her income support had ended in July 2004 and that in reality she was working as a full-time events manager. At one stage she also had a side line running a florist.
O’Brien moved address without notifying the council and was tracked down to an address she had bought in NW11. O’Brien will be sentenced at West London Magistrates Court at a later date. Cllr Smith added: “These two have been pursued and caught by our anti-fraud team and should now do time behind bars. Any scrounger who tries to steal taxpayers’ cash from the council needs to watch their back.”
