Housing benefit cheat is prosecuted

A mother-of-four who fraudulently claimed over £10,000 in housing benefit has been prosecuted by Surrey Heath Borough Council.

On Thursday Louise Riley, previously of The Avenue, Camberley, appeared at Guildford Crown, where she was sentenced in respect of five counts of fraudulent housing benefit claims totalling £10,311.97. Riley had previously pleaded guilty in Woking Magistrates' Court to all five counts and had been referred to the Crown Court for sentence. In respect of each count she was given a six month custodial sentence, which was suspended for 18-months, each to run concurrently with a supervision order.

In an application to the Council for housing benefit Riley stated she was a private tenant paying rent, when in fact she owned the property. She also said her only income was child benefit, but she was receiving rent from her mother and maintenance amounting to £1,900 a month.

The Council was alerted to Riley's activities following an anonymous referral from a member of the public, who provided a land registry report listing Riley as the owner of the house since 2003.

Following the referral, Riley was interviewed under caution. During this interview she maintained she rented the property and had never owned it until she was shown the land registry and then requested the interview was suspended in order to seek legal advice.

During a second interview when her solicitor was present, Riley admitted:

- She had owned the house in The Avenue since 2003 and had used a lump sum of £250,000 from her ex-husband as a deposit to pay for it. She had a mortgage for the balance.
- Knowingly claiming housing benefit she knew she was not entitled to.
- That her mother had been living at the property for approximately eight months and she had received rent from her.
- Failing to declare child support payments from her ex-husband to either the Council or the Department of Work and Pensions.

Bank statements also revealed Riley was operating three bank accounts in contradiction to the one she declared to the Council when submitting her claim for housing benefit. These statements were used to establish Riley had received an undeclared net income of £26,013.59 from when she started receiving benefit to the date of her interview. The bank statements also showed that Riley was receiving this income prior to claiming housing / Council Tax benefit.

Following the interview Riley's benefit was cancelled. She was ordered to pay compensation of £10,311 to the Borough Council in addition to £2,396 of costs by March 31, 2007.

Portfolio Holder for Resources, Performance and Audit Cllr Edward Hawkins stated that the Council's policy is to ensure people who are entitled to benefits receive them and those who are not entitled and are claiming them illegally are brought to justice.

Investigations Manager Julia Greenfield said: "This case highlights how important it is for members of the public to contact the Council's fraud investigations team if they suspect others of receiving housing and or Council Tax Benefit that they are not entitled to. We are committed to promoting an anti-fraud culture and with the public's help can clamp down on those cheating the system."

The fraud hotline number is 01276 707372 or view the new fraud reporting form.

The Council's findings were sent to the Department for Work and Pensions on November 23, 2005, for a decision on Riley's entitlement to Income Support, this is required to enable the Council to make a decision on Riley's entitlement to Council Tax benefit. As yet the Council has not received a response from the Department of Work and Pensions, so we cannot provide details of any overpayment in respect of Council Tax that may have occurred.

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Ref: News 311

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