Court keeps benefit fraudster busy
Published 3rd September 07
A local man was found guilty of defrauding the council of nearly £20,000 in housing and Council Tax benefits at Harrow Magistrates Court.
Stephen Wackett of Eliot Drive, Rayners Lane, pleaded guilty to nine offences of dishonesty dating back eight years.
Wackett, 53, received a four month suspended prison sentence, a Community Punishment Order of 100 hours, a curfew to remain at home between the hours of 8pm-7am and ordered to pay £250 costs.
Wackett first applied for housing and Council Tax benefit in 1997on behalf of himself and his wife claiming their only income was incapacity benefit.
However, an anomaly came to light in 2005 when a data match from Audit Commission's National Fraud Initiative showed Wackett had been receiving an undeclared pension since 1990.
Further investigations by Harrow Council's corporate fraud team revealed that Mrs Wackett had also been working part-time since 1998 and that the couple had both been receiving tax credits since 2003.
The court heard that the Wacketts failed to declare any of this income and illegally claimed £14,887.65p in Housing Benefit and £4,895.20p in Council Tax benefit between June 1998 to March 2005.
Cllr Paul Osborn, portfolio holder for strategy and business support, said: "More and more of these cases are coming to light showing that our investigative procedures are becoming more effective.
"We simply can't afford to let people de-fraud the public purse and our fraud team's success together with greater use of Voice Recognition Analysis will help us make further savings."
If you suspect someone to be committing benefit fraud in Harrow, please call the Fraud Hotline on 020 8424 1834 and speak to the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team.
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