Benefit cheat jailed

3:17pm Monday 10th December 2007

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A benefit cheat from Preston has been sentenced to nine months in prison after being found guilty of dishonestly obtaining council tax and housing benefits.

John William Moss, of Avenham Place, was sentenced in respect of seven counts of making dishonest representations to the council to obtain benefits at Preston Crown Court on Thursday 29 November.

The sentence was handed out after 48-year-old Moss fraudulently received £31,004.07 in council tax and housing benefit between 1999 and 2006.

Each count related to an occasion when Moss had filled in a benefit claim form and failed to declare bank accounts that contained more than £20,000 savings.

Moss would not have been allowed to claim these benefits if the council had been aware of these accounts.

To be eligible for council tax and housing benefit, people must meet set criteria one of these being they must have savings of less than £16,000.

In passing sentence Her Honour Judge Nield stated that the offences, committed over a period just short of seven years, were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

In addition to his custodial sentence, the council will seek to recover the outstanding amount owed by Moss.

The fraud was identified by council staff after they received information from the Housing Benefits Matching Service, which automatically detected the accounts after picking up on the amount of tax that was being paid on the interest on Moss' savings.

Councillor Eric Fazackerley, cabinet member for resources, said: "The council has a zero tolerance policy on benefit fraud and this court case proves that people can't get away with it and could end up behind bars if they make a fraudulent claim.

"The council works alongside other agencies such as the Department for Work and Pensions, the police and the national Housing Benefit Matching Service to root out benefit cheats.

"Benefit fraud is theft and we will continue to do all we can to stamp it out and safeguard taxpayers' money.

"There are now more ways than ever to catch fraudsters and there are hefty punishments for people who do get caught, so benefit cheats beware!"