A former council officer has been jailed for three years for stealing over £100,000 in benefits. Sancho Jayaratnam, aged 58 from Bushey, was caught by police and Harrow Council committing multiple acts of fraud. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position . Jayaratnam, a former benefit assessor for the council,
A landlord has been ordered to pay almost £40,000 over a series of safety breaches at his flats in Birmingham, described as the worst property seen by inspectors in a decade. Birmingham city council said David Greene, 64, showed “callous disregard” for his responsibilities at the property, which was converted into ten flats. Offences included
A 74-year-old woman who was accused of a £21,000 benefit fraud has been disowned by her family members. Josephine Robinson was ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and pay £170 costs. Magistrates’ chairman Toby Prosser said, “It was close to custody. It was a serious amount of money you were overpaid.” Robinson admitted
Over £70million was lost to fraudsters or wrongly paid out every week, an increase of £200m on the previous year. The Department for Work and Pensions admitted more than £2 of every £100 paid out in welfare is now a “mistake.” James Price, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said, “We have to crack down
An unmarried mother has won a landmark Supreme Court case to access widowed parent’s allowance for her children after she was denied bereavement payments following her partner’s death. Siobhan McLaughlin, 46, was initially refused the benefit payments because she was not married to her partner, who died of cancer in January 2014. Campaigners have called this ruling “hugely important”
Four members from the same family have been jailed for more than three years after setting up five car accidents in an insurance fraud operation that cost more than £40,000. Rashid Ahmed, Abdullahi Bana, Salah Mohammed and Abbas Moobe, from Ilford, London, have been sentenced for their part in carrying out a series of ‘crash
A landlord has been convicted after neglecting his property in Norwich. Measures were taken against Nicholas Ian Shaw, 47, by Cheshire West and Chester Council after complaints from a tenant. The flat was being rented by a family which included two young children under the age of five at the time. Mr Shaw was asked several
A woman from Billingham has appeared in court accused of benefit fraud. Paige Smith, 21, is alleged to have claimed housing benefit and income support fraudulently between June 12, 2016, and March 26, 2017. Smith is charged with failing to notify Stockton Council and the Department for Work and Pensions that she was living with her
A German woman has been granted a divorce after bringing matrimonial proceedings to England after discovering her husband was having an affair. Catja Thum issued a divorce petition in England even though Oliver Thum had started separate proceedings in Germany. The couple, both in their 40s, were at the Court of Appeal in May this
A landlord was fined £20,000 after admitting he put the lives of five residents at risk. Residents became trapped upstairs during a fire in Worthing last year, weeks after their landlord was told their fire alarm did not work. The judge said Terry Millis, 62, had a ‘high level’ of culpability and fined him £20,000