0:00:02 > 0:00:07Welcome to Saints and Scroungers, the show that exposes benefit thieves, cheats and liars.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10But it does also unearth the people that genuinely need help.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14This is the frontline in the battle against benefit fraud.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40'Saints and Scroungers puts the spotlight on benefit thieves
0:00:40 > 0:00:44'who ruthlessly steal millions of pounds every year from the British taxpayer.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48'And it highlights the plight of men and women who are too proud
0:00:48 > 0:00:52'or simply don't know how to claim the benefits they deserve.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57'The saints get help. And the scroungers, well, they get tracked down by fraud investigators
0:00:57 > 0:01:01'who put an end to their devious scams.'
0:01:01 > 0:01:03And coming up on today's programme,
0:01:03 > 0:01:08smudges spotted on a benefit form unravel years of fraud and deceit.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12There was just something that made me want to go further with this, look into it further.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18'And a saintly project in the Wirral brings salvation to the local community.'
0:01:18 > 0:01:20If they hadn't knocked at my door,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I really don't know where I would be now.
0:01:25 > 0:01:31'But first today, the case of an extremely deceitful mother of three.'
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Chasing fraudsters is a 24-hour job at the best of times,
0:01:38 > 0:01:43but catching a benefit cheat who doesn't even live in the UK is a completely different challenge.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Luckily, Havering Council's fraud investigation unit
0:01:47 > 0:01:52wouldn't let a thing like international borders and distance put them off the scent.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56'Meet Devi Luckhee, a single mum in her early 30s.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58'She's unemployed, has three children
0:01:58 > 0:02:01'and claims housing benefit from the London borough of Havering.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07'She recently moved from a one-bed property in the borough to another, a flat here in The Rotunda.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11'So she wrote to the council to inform them of her change in circumstances
0:02:11 > 0:02:14'and submitted a new housing benefit claim.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17'£900 per month for a two-bedroom flat.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20'And this is where the story begins.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28'In August 2009, the housing benefit department in the London borough of Havering
0:02:28 > 0:02:33'were going out their usual business, processing housing and council tax claims
0:02:33 > 0:02:36'and assessing who was entitled to benefit.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39'Jenny Bush is one of the benefit assessors.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42'She assesses about 15 to 20 cases a day
0:02:42 > 0:02:44'and one of the documents she uses to do this
0:02:44 > 0:02:49'is the tenancy agreement, which gives the dates of the occupation and the amount of the rental.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52'It's a fairly straightforward procedure,
0:02:52 > 0:02:57'but when the eagle-eyed assessor was sent a scanned copy of Devi Luckhee's tenancy agreement,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'she spotted something that didn't look quite right.'
0:03:01 > 0:03:04It looked slightly smudged around the figures.
0:03:04 > 0:03:10There was smudges where the amounts and also the dates
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and I've been doing the job about ten years now
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and you get to see tenancy agreements, and where things vary,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20you're inquisitive and you tend to look into them.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22'And that's exactly what Jenny did.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25'As the dates and figures looked as though they had been distorted,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30'she decided to compare the electronic documents with the original copy in the archives
0:03:30 > 0:03:35'because she wanted to make sure the smudges weren't caused by the scanning process.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39'Little did she know, she was about to kick off a major fraud investigation.'
0:03:42 > 0:03:46I compared it with the hard copy in our scanning department
0:03:46 > 0:03:50and we could see that it was the same one that had been received,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53it wasn't a smudge during the scanning process.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58She'd actually made four changes to this one page on the tenancy agreement.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04On the first part here, the date is where it should have the correct tenancy agreement of the 31st July.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06But you can see that it's been doctored there.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10There's a slight mark there and she's erased the three to make it the 1st
0:04:10 > 0:04:13in order to gain an extra month's benefit.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Further down here, you can see it's more clear
0:04:16 > 0:04:19that she's actually tried to doctor it,
0:04:19 > 0:04:24although you can just make out the outline of the three on there.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28You've got the rent payable at £900,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30and, again, that is smudged slightly there.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And, again, on there, where she's erased the three,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37and you can see that there's quite a fair gap on there.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41'Jenny was now convinced the tenancy agreement had been tampered with.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46'But to be absolutely sure, she called the letting agent in charge of the property.'
0:04:46 > 0:04:49I contacted the agents to verify the dates,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52because the tenancy agreement was obviously doctored,
0:04:52 > 0:04:57and they did verify that the date was 31st July, not the 1st,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02and therefore Devi was asking for an extra month's worth of benefit that she wasn't entitled to.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07'Jenny suspected the rental figure had been tampered with, as well.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11'But because of data protection rules, the only people who can access that information
0:05:11 > 0:05:14'are the fraud investigating officers.'
0:05:14 > 0:05:18The fraud officer I dealt with
0:05:18 > 0:05:23did agree, at this stage, that she did feel it was definitely a cause for investigation.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26'Now, as fraud investigations are often very sensitive,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'many officers wish to remain anonymous,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31'as is the case in this investigation.'
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Initially, I made contact with the letting agent over the telephone.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43I then sent a data protection request requesting the information, that's the legislation we use.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49And then, subsequently, I went to visit him and I took a statement from him.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54The letting agent informed me that the amount had been inflated
0:05:54 > 0:05:58and that the property was actually a one-bedroom and not a two-bedroom,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00as the claim had been made for.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04'So Jenny's suspicions were spot on.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06'Devi Luckhee had doctored the figures.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'Instead of claiming £650 for a one-bedroom flat,
0:06:09 > 0:06:14'she was claiming £900 for a two-bedroom one.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'Case closed. Or was it?
0:06:16 > 0:06:20'Could Devi be more than a chancer?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23'Was she just after an extra housing benefit every month,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27'or could there be more to this scrounger than meets the eye?'
0:06:29 > 0:06:32When I met the letting agent, he informed me
0:06:32 > 0:06:36that she appeared to have airport security passes round her neck
0:06:36 > 0:06:39and she gave him references
0:06:39 > 0:06:43regarding her employment in France at an airport
0:06:43 > 0:06:47and she said that she wanted the property
0:06:47 > 0:06:52for during the week, for when she was working in this country,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56She gave him references of her employment
0:06:56 > 0:07:00and I think they said she had been employed since 2004
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and she was earning 1,800 to 2,000 Euros per month.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08'Hold onto your horses. Could Devi Luckhee be working in France
0:07:08 > 0:07:13'and claiming housing benefit in the UK, even though she didn't live here?
0:07:13 > 0:07:18'The fraud investigator thought this might be the case, but she needed to prove it.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23'And as Devi had three children, the first stop on her hunt for evidence was the local school.'
0:07:25 > 0:07:29I went centrally to the place that we use here in the London borough of Havering
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and there was no trace of the children currently.
0:07:32 > 0:07:39There was a trace of them previously having attended a school for a couple of months.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43I went to the schools and they gave me information
0:07:43 > 0:07:49that Miss Luckhee attended the school one day and said they were all emigrating to France.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53'The school confirmed the investigator's suspicions,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57'but she needed more proof. So the next stop on her hunt for evidence
0:07:57 > 0:07:59'was Devi's flat.'
0:07:59 > 0:08:01We went early in the morning,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04accessed the block of flats
0:08:04 > 0:08:09and went to the door, knocked and there was no reply.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12I was adamant that she wouldn't be there, in any case,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14because, from the enquiries that I'd made,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18I just didn't believe that she was living in this country.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22So I made enquiries with the neighbours, who confirmed this,
0:08:22 > 0:08:28and it was an elderly lady, and she said that she hadn't seen any female
0:08:28 > 0:08:30living there with three children.
0:08:30 > 0:08:36'The evidence was stacking up, so the fraud investigator decided to give Devi Luckhee a call,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38'and the final proof was in the ringing tone.'
0:08:40 > 0:08:44We had a mobile telephone number on her claim form,
0:08:44 > 0:08:49so I rang that and immediately it was a ringtone from abroad that I was receiving.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59'The fraud investigator was now convinced that Devi Luckhee was claiming housing benefit in the UK
0:08:59 > 0:09:03'whilst living abroad. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08'Further enquiries showed that Devi was fleecing the UK benefits system
0:09:08 > 0:09:10'for as much money as she could get her hands on.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13'In fact, over £80,000.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:19During that time, she had been claiming, at the London borough of Havering,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22housing benefit and council tax benefit,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27and in addition, she was claiming benefits from the Department of Work and Pensions
0:09:27 > 0:09:32and also from Customs and Excise, the working tax credits.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37And she was receiving child benefit and she was getting child tax credits,
0:09:37 > 0:09:43that's for people on low income, and either income support or job seeker's at various times.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46'And Devi wasn't only claiming from the government
0:09:46 > 0:09:48'and the London borough of Havering,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51'she was also claiming from the London boroughs of
0:09:51 > 0:09:54'Barking and Dagenham, and Redbridge.'
0:09:54 > 0:10:01There is no way that we could've thought that it would open such a huge case of worms, so to speak.
0:10:02 > 0:10:09'It's unbelievable, isn't it? What started as a suspicious claim for an extra month of housing benefit
0:10:09 > 0:10:15'escalated into claims worth a total of £80,750 over six years.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18'That's money you and I have earned and paid in tax
0:10:18 > 0:10:21'lining the pockets of Devi Luckhee.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26'This woman had to be stopped, and that's what the investigator was going to do,
0:10:26 > 0:10:31'using Devi's fraudulent claim for housing benefit at The Rotunda as her starting point.'
0:10:32 > 0:10:37From my enquiries that I'd made, there was no doubt that she wasn't living there.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41It was a false claim. Her children weren't living there,
0:10:41 > 0:10:46I'd made enquiries, the children didn't go to school in this country.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50So, therefore, all the indications were that it was false
0:10:50 > 0:10:54and so she was arrestable for benefit fraud.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58'Later in the programme, an unexpected turn of events
0:10:58 > 0:11:01'put the entire investigation at risk.'
0:11:01 > 0:11:04She could've got wind of it, thought, "They're closing in."
0:11:07 > 0:11:11'From the scroungers ripping off the system to the people we call our saints.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16'Those individuals who help put money into the pockets of people in genuine need,
0:11:16 > 0:11:21'and the people who are too proud or simply don't know how to claim what's due to them.'
0:11:25 > 0:11:30I'm in the Northwest of England, and here is one of the most deprived areas in the UK.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33It's got high unemployment and lots of people claiming benefits.
0:11:33 > 0:11:39To some, this might seem like a lost cause, but thankfully, not everybody sees it that way.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44And I'll soon be meeting a group of people who literally go out there knocking on people's doors
0:11:44 > 0:11:50trying to make sure they're claiming the right benefit and trying to help them get back into work.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'They're based here in the Wirral and the project's called Reach Out.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58'It's funded with government money and has a rather unique approach.'
0:11:58 > 0:11:59'A lot of clients we're trying to reach'
0:11:59 > 0:12:01are the hardest to reach groups -
0:12:01 > 0:12:04people who've been let down by mainstream services
0:12:04 > 0:12:06and don't trust systems and services.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11So we don't sit behind a desk and let people come to us, we go and find these people.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15We go and find local residents who need help, who need a bit of direction,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and we hold out our hand and say, "Let us guide you on your journey. Let's take you forward.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23"There is a different way of life out there if you want it, we'll show you the way."
0:12:23 > 0:12:26'Well, you know what they say, the proof is in the pudding.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31'So I'm going to meet two people who needed the help that Reach Out was offering.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33'First up is dressmaker Jackie Griffin.'
0:12:38 > 0:12:44- Hiya, Jackie!- Yes, hello. - I'm going to step in.- OK.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47Tell me about your background.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Right, well, I found myself a single mum,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53no qualifications, really, to speak of,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56so I went back to college and did four and a half years
0:12:56 > 0:12:59City and Guilds embroidery and textile design.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03- OK.- And from there, went into the bridal industry.
0:13:03 > 0:13:10And, unfortunately, found myself, two years ago, out of work.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13'Not one to sit around twiddling her thumbs,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16'Jackie started looking for work straight away.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:22- How many jobs were you applying for? - On average, about 250 a week.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26- You're joking me?- Mm. - I didn't even know there was that many jobs in the country!
0:13:26 > 0:13:31- Mm.- Why were you not getting them? - Erm, possibly because I was over-qualified.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36I was applying for quite low-paid jobs, just basically to pay the bills,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41and I was competing against school-leavers, college-leavers, university-leavers, as well.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44So it was just very difficult.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49So all your working life, you've been working, had a great job, very skilled, very good at what you do,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51- then you find yourself on the scrap heap.- Mm.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57'Jackie's not the only person in the Wirral who felt as though she was on the scrap heap.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02'My next stop is the library, where I'm going to meet truck driver Steve Turner.'
0:14:02 > 0:14:07- Tell me what happened to you. - I'd been working since I left school, all my life,
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and then, bang, lost my job.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13So you'd gone from being a working man to being unemployed.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16How much were you getting in allowances to survive on?
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Erm, £64.30 per week.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22- Right. So not even £10 a day.- No.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- And you had to pay everything out of that?- Yeah.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30- You're a family man, aren't you? - Yes, I am. I have a daughter who lives in Manchester.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32I've got a daughter who lives in Blackpool,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37a son in Wales, from a previous relationship, two of them.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41- Do you still manage to see them? - Not really, no.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44- Is that because of losing your job? - It is, yes.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48I used to see my youngest daughter as much as I possibly could,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52but with being out of work, I've not had the funds,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56because of paying your bills, things like that, to go and see her.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00- That must have felt pretty bad. - It's been horrible.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04'Sadly, Jackie and Steve's stories aren't unique.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08'There are thousands of men and women all over the country who have lost their jobs,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11'their homes and their trust in the system.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15'But local initiatives like Reach Out can help, if you allow them.'
0:15:16 > 0:15:18I thought, "I've got nothing to lose.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22"And I go to the library anyway,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25"and those guys are there, so just go for it."
0:15:25 > 0:15:31From the moment you had your first meeting with them, and you explained your circumstances and situation,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34how long was it before you managed to get a full-time job?
0:15:34 > 0:15:40I started seeing them around about February of this year,
0:15:40 > 0:15:46and they funded my licence for the forklift in April...
0:15:46 > 0:15:49- Right.- ..and a week after I took the test, I found a job.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53- Temporary.- So, literally, within two months, you got your qualifications
0:15:53 > 0:15:59- and you were in work.- I was, yeah. - What do you think about that as a system?
0:15:59 > 0:16:02I've never had that kind of help before, off anybody.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06- If it wasn't for them, where do you think you'd be now? - Still unemployed.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10'So it worked for Steve. But would it work for dressmaker Jackie?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13When we knocked on Jackie's door, she turned us away.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Jackie didn't want help initially.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18It was only when we got to the bottom of the garden path
0:16:18 > 0:16:24that Jackie then decided that, "Maybe these people can help me, maybe these people are all right,"
0:16:24 > 0:16:27and Jackie then asked us to turn round and come back in.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31'And that was one of the best decisions Jackie's ever made,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35'because deep down, she wanted more than a job.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39'Her dream was to run her own company. And she'd even written a business plan.'
0:16:41 > 0:16:44They came in and saw one of my prom dresses
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and said, "You've got to come and see us."
0:16:47 > 0:16:52And I went that afternoon with my business plan and some samples and photographs
0:16:52 > 0:16:57and had a meeting with the business advisor and he said, "Have you got anywhere to work from?"
0:16:57 > 0:17:02- and I said, "I've got an empty building at the moment at the bottom of the garden."- This garage?- Yeah.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05"We'll give you a grant. We'll help you."
0:17:05 > 0:17:09And within three and a half weeks, I was up and running.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14What happened? Did they come in and get it all like this?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17They helped me organise a builder, what I needed out here,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21lighting, heating, the sewing machines out here and everything
0:17:21 > 0:17:27and in three and a half weeks, I had a useable, workable studio to work from, rather than a spare bedroom.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31- How long ago was that, that turning point? - That was two and a half years ago.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I said, "It's too late for my dream" when they knocked at my door.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37And it's not now. It's not now.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42- Long may it continue, going forward with that sort of strength. - Yes.- Well done.
0:17:42 > 0:17:48- 'And Steve's a happy chappy, too.' - I'm going to be able to see my daughter again.- When?- Tomorrow.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50- Are you excited?- Yes. I can't wait.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00- Oh, I missed you, baby! - I missed you, too!
0:18:02 > 0:18:07'The saints have got the help they need. Time now to track down the scroungers.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12'Havering Borough Council has established that Miss Devi Luckhee was living in France
0:18:12 > 0:18:16'and claiming over £80,000 worth of benefits in the UK.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21'So the fraud investigating officer set up a plan to get her back into the country.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26'And she was counting on the fact that Devi would be keen to get her housing benefit claim processed
0:18:26 > 0:18:28'as quickly as possible.'
0:18:30 > 0:18:33I asked Errol Smith, another benefit assessor,
0:18:33 > 0:18:39to send a letter to her at that claim address
0:18:39 > 0:18:42and ask her to attend an interview
0:18:42 > 0:18:46with all the documentation that we wanted to see
0:18:46 > 0:18:49and that she would need some of it for her claim,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53because her claim could not be processed without it.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58I would then have the information should we be fortunate enough to arrest her.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03'Miss Luckhee didn't question the letter because she had no idea she was being investigated.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07'She just assumed she was coming in for a routine interview
0:19:07 > 0:19:11'and the documentation would enable her claim to be processed as quickly as possible,
0:19:11 > 0:19:17'which is what she wanted, £900 of free money every month, thank you very much.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19'So the date for the interview was set.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23'29th September 2009 at 10am.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28'But something completely unexpected happened which had the potential
0:19:28 > 0:19:31'to blow the entire investigation out of the water.'
0:19:31 > 0:19:34She turned up a week early
0:19:34 > 0:19:40because she was really chasing her claim. She hadn't been paid, she wanted the money.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45'And that was a disaster, because the fraud investigator was away
0:19:45 > 0:19:48'and the police weren't on standby to arrest Devi Luckhee.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50'The team had to get her back on the agreed date
0:19:50 > 0:19:54'and Errol managed to do just that.'
0:19:55 > 0:20:01Luckily for me, I was able to contact her again
0:20:01 > 0:20:07and prompted her that I did need to see her with some other additional information
0:20:07 > 0:20:12and more or less informed her that if she brought that in on the day,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15her claim would be assessed on that very same day
0:20:15 > 0:20:19and she agreed to come in at the time that was originally set.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24So the ball was back in motion.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28It could've gone wrong at that stage. She could've got wind of it,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32thought, "I'm not coming back, this is closing in on me,"
0:20:32 > 0:20:36but she didn't. She wanted her money. She'd had it for so many years,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39no-one had found her out then
0:20:39 > 0:20:42and she was calculated and she came in.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45'So the net had been cast.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49'All the investigating team had to do now was reel in Devi Luckhee.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51'And this is how they did it.'
0:20:53 > 0:20:57On the day, I got a call from one of the officers at the public advice centre
0:20:57 > 0:21:00to say that Miss Luckhee was in the office.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05I went over to her, shook her hand, said good morning.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11She had a bag with her in which I assume she had all the information that was requested.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14We went into the room.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18I then began to talk to her in regards to her claim
0:21:18 > 0:21:23and the information I had received and what I still needed.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27And during that conversation, the police walked in.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31She was taken to Romford Police Station
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and then she went through the booking-in procedure.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39On her person, she had passports for the children, herself,
0:21:39 > 0:21:44her identity card, and then she had all sorts of documentation
0:21:44 > 0:21:48from all the various agencies that she was obtaining money from.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52'This was the evidence needed to prove Devi was claiming benefits
0:21:52 > 0:21:55'she wasn't entitled to. But there was much more.'
0:21:57 > 0:21:59She had a diary with her.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03You can see from the entries
0:22:03 > 0:22:07where she's coming into the country on the Eurostar
0:22:07 > 0:22:09at 0600 hours.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12She has an appointment with the job centre
0:22:12 > 0:22:17at 10:50 in the morning.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21And she also has her return time
0:22:21 > 0:22:24back to Paris on that very same day.
0:22:25 > 0:22:31'The diary entries and the train ticket prove Devi Luckhee didn't live in the UK.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34'The evidence was mounting up and the final nail in the coffin
0:22:34 > 0:22:37'was something that can only be described as a forgery kit.'
0:22:38 > 0:22:45Basically, it was lots and lots of photocopies of the tenancy for the current claim
0:22:45 > 0:22:52where she'd gone over, practising typing the new amount for the tenancy agreement
0:22:52 > 0:22:57and there was one that was Tipp-Exed and she was typing over the top of it and photocopying it
0:22:57 > 0:23:01and getting it down until you couldn't see the little Tipp-Ex blob.
0:23:03 > 0:23:09She also had... her original tenancy agreement...
0:23:10 > 0:23:13..which she was now doctoring.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18'For someone as cool and calculating as Devi Luckhee,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22'bringing in all this evidence with her an was unbelievably stupid thing to do.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24'But thank goodness she did.'
0:23:24 > 0:23:29If there wasn't enough evidence in her possession at that time,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32there was no doubt that she would've gone back to Paris
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and we don't think we would've ever seen her again.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38'The evidence in her bag was overwhelming,
0:23:38 > 0:23:44'but investigators need to prove Devi was claiming housing benefit for a flat she didn't live in.'
0:23:45 > 0:23:51I went with the police, after her arrest, to the property.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53to conduct a search
0:23:53 > 0:23:58and we entered the property via the use of her keys that she had on her.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03We filmed... Well, I filmed the flat as it was.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06'There was no food in the fridge.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08'The cupboards were bare.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'No toys, no clothes
0:24:11 > 0:24:14'and there was very little in the bathroom.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18'This was one of those searches where the lack of evidence
0:24:18 > 0:24:22'was, in fact, all the evidence they needed to prove that Devi Luckhee
0:24:22 > 0:24:26'was trying to claim £900 worth of housing benefit a month
0:24:26 > 0:24:29'for a flat she didn't live in, because, let's face it,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33'if you lived in a flat with three children, would it be this empty?
0:24:33 > 0:24:35'Devi had no choice but to come clean.'
0:24:39 > 0:24:41So I went into the interview
0:24:41 > 0:24:47and asked her if she understood why she was arrested
0:24:47 > 0:24:51and she sort of immediately
0:24:51 > 0:24:55admitted having made the false tenancy
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and I was thinking to myself, "This is too easy.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02"She's just confessing to everything. There must be more."
0:25:03 > 0:25:06'Now, every good detective story has a twist in the tale,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09'and this one is no different.'
0:25:09 > 0:25:12She was asked where she lived and she said that she lived in France
0:25:12 > 0:25:17and she lived with a male and she gave the name.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21And it was just a fluke, really. I said, "Is that your husband, then?"
0:25:21 > 0:25:24And, yes, it was, she said.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28So she hadn't even told us about the husband, and he worked,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30and as it turns out, she was living in France
0:25:30 > 0:25:33with the husband that worked, with the children
0:25:33 > 0:25:35and claiming benefits there, as well.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41And not only was she claiming benefits here in Havering,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48she'd even put in an application for a council house here
0:25:48 > 0:25:51when she had a council house in Paris.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56'So there you have it. Miss Devi Luckhee was an international benefit scrounger.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58'But she'd been caught.'
0:25:59 > 0:26:03From the date of her arrest on 29th September,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07she was remanded in custody up until her trial,
0:26:07 > 0:26:13whereupon she pleaded guilty to having received benefits
0:26:13 > 0:26:18of £80,750.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20'And now for the good news.'
0:26:20 > 0:26:23She was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment
0:26:23 > 0:26:28and when she had served her sentence, she was deported from the country.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31'Miss Luckhee's luck had finally run out
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'and not a moment too soon.'
0:26:34 > 0:26:38She was obviously claiming benefits
0:26:38 > 0:26:41that she was not legally entitled to,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44which could go to genuine people within the borough.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47I'm pleased that we've stopped an international fraudster.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50She was calm, cool and calculated.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53She could manipulate any system.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57She's been deported now, so she's gone.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
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