Suspended jail sentence for benefit cheat

A Rochdale woman who provided false documents and failed to declare income going into a hidden bank account has received a 12-month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to charges of fraudulently claiming housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support totalling almost £27,000.

Gemma Caffrey (31), of Jepheys Street, Rochdale, pocketed the money after making a claim for housing benefit stating she was renting the property she lived in and needed help to pay her rent. She also claimed income support and council tax benefit stating she was a single parent with no income.

In fact, Miss Caffrey was not a tenant and had owned her own home for many years and so was not entitled to housing benefit. Her dishonesty was uncovered following an investigation by Rochdale Borough Council’s benefit fraud team. Investigators found that Miss Caffrey had provided a string of false benefit claim forms and tenancy agreements in an attempt to make her claim appear genuine, naming fake landlords as part of her fictitious tenancy plot.

The extent of Miss Caffrey’s deceit was exposed further when investigators found she also had a hidden bank account which had been used to stash thousands of pounds of undeclared income which meant she also had no entitlement to income support or council tax benefit.

She was interviewed under caution twice and initially denied any wrong doing, but later pleaded guilty to eight charges of fraud between 2005 and 2010.

As a result of the investigation, the claim for housing benefit was deemed false from the outset creating an overpayment of £19,189.98. The undeclared income created further overpayments of £1,491.05 council tax benefit and £6,108.95 income support.

Miss Caffrey was subsequently prosecuted by the council and, at Bolton Crown Court on 21 June 2012, received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years along with a Community Order to carry out 150 hours unpaid work in accordance with the ‘New Direction Activity’. She will also have to repay £20,681 to the council and £6,108 to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Councillor Farooq Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Finance at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Benefit cheats abuse the system, taking money from those who are legitimately entitled and need it the most, and this case shows that the council and the courts do not take benefit fraud lightly. The message must be that those attempting to beat the system do get caught, and when they do, the consequences will be serious.”