Hyndburn fraud team praised for uncovering £100,000 benefit scam (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Hyndburn fraud team praised for uncovering £100,000 benefit scam
1:00pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News
Dawn Wood
A FRAUD team has been praised for uncovering a £100,000 benefit scam.
Detailed investigations by Hyndburn Council’s fraud team uncovered that 35-year-old Accrington mum Dawn Wood had lied about living with a partner.
Hyndburn Council’s cabinet member for finances, Coun Joan Smith, said the authority’s officer had done ‘sterling work’ to bring about a prosecution.
The mum-of-three, of Westwood Street, was jailed for six months and will also have to repay the fraud-ulently-claimed benefits.
Hyndburn Borough Council’s Benefit Fraud Team discovered that Ms Wood, a mother-of-three, was living with her partner, Robert Fletcher.
Coun Smith said: “Our fraud team, working with the DWP, has done sterling work. We have a tough attitude to benefit cheats and have no hesitation in taking people to court wherever necessary to protect the majority of honest council tax payers in the borough.”
In an investigation by the council Fletcher, who worked for Valley Windows and Conservatories in Nelson, was seen leaving the home in the morning and returning each evening. Bills were all in Mr Fletcher’s name and he also gave the Accrington address as his home to his employers.
