Benefit fraudster jailed

Hussain, of Pakistani origin but now a British National, began claiming council tax allowance as a lone parent when her taxi-driver husband returned to Pakistan because of a family bereavement in October 2007.
However once he had returned six weeks later Mrs Hussain continued to claim lone parent allowance which totalled up to £104,641 at the time of its discovery.
Her barrister Mr Harris pleaded to the court for leniency saying his client suffered from panic attacks, claustrophobia, and needed bereavement counselling over her mother's recent death.
He said: "Mrs Hussain is looking into re-mortgaging her property to pay off the debt in its entirety. The initial claims were born out of a stressful financial situation and continued as Mrs Hussain was afraid of what would happen if her fraud was discovered.
"There was nothing professional about this deception and the profits were in no way used to obtain a luxurious lifestyle."
Mr Harris appealed for a suspended sentence and cited Mrs Hussein's young children as 'exceptional circumstances".
But presiding Judge Seddon Cripps refused to suspend the jail sentence saying: "The fraud was deliberate and every time the forms came in you continued to sign them and continued to perpetrate the fraud.
"This a typical case of benefit fraud where the female member of the family signs the fraud and then hopes that the fact there are children mean they walk out of the front door instead of down the stairs.
"The father and grand-father in me urge me to be lenient but as a judge I have no alternative other than to refuse the option of a suspended sentence."
CDC said the prosecution was the result of an investigation by the Chiltern and South Bucks Fraud Partnership.
A spokesman for the council said: "We have a zero tolerance approach to benefit fraud and will use the full scope of its legal powers to safeguard public funds. Steps will be taken to recover the money overpaid."