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Four Bromley Borough residents convicted of fraud
A further four residents in Bromley pleaded guilty to benefit fraud and have been recently sentenced at Bromley Magistrates Court as the Council continued its drive to detect and prosecute fraudsters.
In a joint investigation with Croydon Council, Christopher Onyekachi Agwu, 49, of Kevington Drive, Petts Wood pleaded guilty to defrauding Bromley Council of £8,017 in housing and council tax benefits and a further £9,095 benefits against Croydon Council over a period February 2006 to January 2007. He had failed to declare property and also student loans. The case was identified by a national fraud initiative data matching exercise. Agwu was sentenced on the 29th July 2008 to 150 hours community service, ordered to repay £1,000 per month of the benefit overpayment, had £3,000 costs awarded to Bromley and a further £5,000 costs to Croydon.
Dave Gerald Henry, 21, of Bevington Road, Beckenham pleaded guilty to defrauding Bromley Council of £1,676 in housing and council tax benefits over a period April 2007 to September 2007. He had failed to declare that his Job Seekers Allowance had ceased. The case was identified by a data matching exercise. Henry was sentenced on the 6th August 2008 to a £60 fine, ordered to pay £350 costs and a further £15 victim surcharge. The Council is in the process of recovering this overpayment.
Helen Roper, 35, of Lennard Road, Bromley Common pleaded guilty to defrauding Bromley Council of £18,959 in housing benefit and a further £16,604 income support against the Department of Works and Pensions over a period from May 2005 to August 2007. She had failed to declare income received from the sale of her former home in 2005. Roper was sentenced on the 30th July 2008 to complete 160 hours unpaid work through a Community Punishment Order, fined £350 costs, and was subjected to a Compensation Order for £10,000 to be repaid at £120 per month. The balance will be recovered by Bromley Council after the compensation order has been paid. The DWP overpayment is subject to separate recovery proceedings.
Michael Turton, 24, of South View Court, Widmore Road, Bromley pleaded guilty to defrauding Bromley Council of £2,900 in housing and council tax benefits over a period October 2007 to May 2008. He had failed to notify the Council that his Job Seekers Allowance had ended and that had started full time work. The case was initially identified through a data matching exercise. Turton was sentenced on the 6th August 2008 to a £160 fine, ordered to pay £350 costs and a further £15 victim surcharge. The Council is in the process of recovering this overpayment.
Councillor Michael Tickner, Chairman of Bromley’s Audit Sub Committee, said: “We welcome the successful prosecution in these four cases particularly as we have worked with other agencies and employed data match techniques to apprehend these fraudsters. We will continue to do so in our fight against fraud and protection of Bromley’s public money.”
This case brings the total of successful prosecutions to 162 since Bromley and Greenwich Councils started working in partnership to track, trace and prosecute benefit cheats.
Anyone with information about a suspected benefit fraud should contact (in strict confidence) the Fraud Hotline on 0800 169 6975 or email audit@bromley.gov.uk
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