0:00:02 > 0:00:07Welcome to Saints & Scroungers, the show that exposes benefit cheats, thieves 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 front line in the battle against benefit fraud.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42Saints & Scroungers puts the spotlight on benefit thieves who ruthlessly steal millions of pounds
0:00:42 > 0:00:45every year from us, the British taxpayer.
0:00:45 > 0:00:51And we search out the saints who help put unclaimed cash into the hands of those who need it.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55And coming up on today's programme...
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Someone's swindling the taxpayer out of hundreds of thousands of pounds,
0:01:00 > 0:01:06but is it the glamourous countess, the lady in the wheelchair, or both?
0:01:06 > 0:01:11Anybody who describes themselves as the Countess Mariaska Romanov
0:01:11 > 0:01:14has a loose relationship with the truth.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18And the man stricken by cancer,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22genuinely needing benefits, but not knowing where to turn.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24What's the obvious question? "Am I going to die?"
0:01:24 > 0:01:26That's all you can think of.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30But first, the case of the countess and the council.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Now, you might think you know someone well.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42Take me, for example - Dominic Littlewood.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45You see me now and again, and you know exactly what I do.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49But...would you recognise me if I changed my appearance
0:01:49 > 0:01:53and suddenly started calling myself Viscount Grandwood?
0:01:53 > 0:01:59If there's one thing fraud investigators DO know, it's that appearances can be deceptive.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05No-one knows that more than Simon Lane,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09who heads up the Fraud Investigation Team at Brent Council.
0:02:09 > 0:02:18He's been chasing cheats for 24 years, but even he was shocked by a fraud that totalled nearly £200,000,
0:02:18 > 0:02:25ran for 11 years and centred around a countess, a woman who couldn't stand daylight and a park caff.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35It all started with a phone call about a certain Marianne Jonson.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40We received an anonymous tip-off which said that this lady was running a cafe and also
0:02:40 > 0:02:43claiming a number of benefits, including disability benefit.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47We then got a second referral about the same person
0:02:47 > 0:02:49from one of the council's social workers,
0:02:49 > 0:02:54who said she'd seen Miss Jonson in the park, walking her dogs.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59She recognised this woman who she knew was claiming to be a disabled client.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04It was at that stage when we started the investigation into this lady.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Benefit fraud is a serious accusation.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Marianne Jonson was on record as being paraplegic
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and living in a specially adapted ground-floor flat
0:03:13 > 0:03:16owned by a housing association.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21She was receiving...
0:03:26 > 0:03:29..all of which totalled a massive...
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Now, the tip-off
0:03:33 > 0:03:35is suggesting that Marianne Jonson
0:03:35 > 0:03:38is working in a busy council-owned cafe.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42If that's true, she's claiming all these benefits illegally.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48The first thing we'll do is lots of background checks to try and find out who this person is.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53The key starting point in any investigation is to say,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57is the person claiming these benefits the same person that's running the cafe?
0:03:59 > 0:04:02But most of the cafe's customers knew nothing of a Marianne Jonson.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07They knew the boss as Countess Mariaska Romanov, a popular member of the community.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14The Countess got stuck into local affairs.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18She was a school governor, and was frequently spotted out and about.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20She comes across as a larger-than-life character.
0:04:20 > 0:04:28She said she was a very wealthy woman, and she distributed this sort of community largesse, if you like.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34I used to bump into her in businesses local to me, you know, hairdressers and nail shops.
0:04:34 > 0:04:40She was very entertaining. She used to...fill the shop, if you like.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And she was known as the Countess.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47"The Countess is coming in today."
0:04:47 > 0:04:51So, obviously, that made an impact on people who didn't know her well.
0:04:52 > 0:04:59From initial inquiries, it seemed like there were two names connected with the cafe. The plot thickens.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Confused? I know I am.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Look, this is the question - who is this local lady?
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Is it A - Marianne Jonson, the woman who runs this caff,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11but is also claiming disability living allowance?
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Or is it B - Countess Romanov,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17an established lady in the community with an expensive lifestyle?
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Or is it C - both of them?
0:05:22 > 0:05:26'Two women or not, there is one place that seems to connect both names,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'and that is the Roundwood Lodge Cafe.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:34- Any idea what sort of caff it is? - Well, it's certainly well liked in the community.
0:05:34 > 0:05:40Quite well patronised by people around here. It's a hub for people that live here. It's in a nice park.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45Once she took over, presumably, as she was here a few years, there were no problems?
0:05:45 > 0:05:49No. Well, we couldn't get any rent out of her, cos she was claiming she was making a loss.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55But the cafe appeared to be well managed, with lots of people coming and going.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59- It seemed to be very popular. - 'So there's another issue - '
0:05:59 > 0:06:02even though the cafe looks like a profitable business,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05the council aren't seeing any rent for it.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Whoever is in charge appears to be pocketing the profits and not declaring them.
0:06:09 > 0:06:15Could there be two scams at work - benefit fraud and cooking the books?
0:06:15 > 0:06:21- What happened next?- We look at our paperwork that we've got on the Jonson name, i.e. the person
0:06:21 > 0:06:27claiming benefits and the person claiming care payments, and see what we've got on the cafe.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32So you don't go in, all guns blazing? You start in the background?
0:06:32 > 0:06:36No, we do a lot of background checks before we get to that point.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44So the Fraud Investigation Team hit the books and start digging into the records for the cafe.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47They also run credit checks.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52They're on the lookout for evidence that the woman running the cafe is the same as the woman
0:06:52 > 0:06:57claiming the benefits, and they have to get to the bottom of the two different names.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04We'd be picking up any links we could find with the name Romanov.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08We'd also be looking at, um, things like credit-reference checks,
0:07:08 > 0:07:13to see if there are any financial links from the home address
0:07:13 > 0:07:15in both the names of Jonson and Romanov.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19There were a number of clear connections
0:07:19 > 0:07:22within the paperwork once we started looking at things and analysing it.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26The first connection is from the cafe records,
0:07:26 > 0:07:33which show that food safety inspections have been attended by Marianne Jonson up to 2001.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38After that, Jonson's name's replaced by Mariaska Romanov's.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43The next step for the team is to check up on the business records.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47We contacted Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52and established that the Romanov and Jonson identities were linked through the business.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55So we knew we were heading in the right direction.
0:07:55 > 0:08:01And when they look into Jonson's personal finances, they find even more connections.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06We've also, in the meantime, got information coming in
0:08:06 > 0:08:12from banks and building societies about the names Jonson and Romanov, and we're finding all these accounts.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16We're seeing money moving between accounts, thousands of transactions,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20hundreds of thousands of pounds going through over the years.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24All this hard work leads the team to a shocking discovery.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29They realise that Marianne Jonson and the Countess are one and the same person.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Unbelievable.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34And when Simon looks at how the money from Jonson's account
0:08:34 > 0:08:37is being spent, he finds frequent shopping trips.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45This is a lady that says she needs 24-hour care, seven days a week.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49She can't leave her... She's unable to get out of her property.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54This is not somebody who would fit the pattern of a frequent shopper.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58You're talking about shopping trips two or three times a week.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01So let's look at what they've found so far.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05They've received two tip-offs saying Marianne Jonson is running a cafe
0:09:05 > 0:09:08while claiming benefits she's not entitled to.
0:09:08 > 0:09:15They've found Jonson's name on the cafe's business records, along with the name Countess Romanov.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18They've found several bank accounts in Jonson's name,
0:09:18 > 0:09:24Countess Romanov's and the cafe's, all with money moving between them.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30And they've seen bank statements that suggest Jonson goes shopping three times a week.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34There are now enough connections to suggest Jonson is committing
0:09:34 > 0:09:39a serious fraud and using the alter ego, Mariaska Romanov, to do so.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43But Simon needs more definitive proof.
0:09:43 > 0:09:50So we're at the point where we need to definitively link
0:09:50 > 0:09:52the woman that is running the cafe
0:09:52 > 0:09:55with the woman that's claiming benefit.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01So Simon puts in place a 24-hour surveillance programme
0:10:01 > 0:10:08and begins to monitor comings and goings outside her home. But will he get the evidence he needs?
0:10:09 > 0:10:14- What are you going to show me here, Simon?- This is someone who's supposedly paraplegic.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Here she comes. That's Miss Jonson
0:10:18 > 0:10:23putting something in the back of her car. About to get in her car.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24Then drive off.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28- There were certainly no signs of any mobility problems there at all.- Exactly.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33To all intents and purposes, this must be the evidence you need?
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Yeah, this is good evidence for us.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39'It's a fantastic step forward.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44'With Jonson caught on camera, it looks like Simon has concrete proof
0:10:44 > 0:10:47'that her disability claims are false.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51'Now they just need to catch her at the cafe to make the final connection.'
0:10:56 > 0:11:01But, as so often the case, there's a complication.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04To disguise her double life, Jonson developed an alibi in case
0:11:04 > 0:11:08anyone spotted her up and about, looking the picture of health.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13She told her housing officer and social services
0:11:13 > 0:11:16that she had an able-bodied twin sister.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20It was a very clever attempt to cover her tracks.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25The twin story was created presumably to give her a get-out if anybody had seen her out and about.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28She could say, "That was my twin".
0:11:28 > 0:11:31But the twin sister was an angle we had to look at,
0:11:31 > 0:11:37we really needed to bottom that out. Had that been the case, it may have been that the informer was mistaken
0:11:37 > 0:11:42and there was a twin and it was a perfectly legitimate claim.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47However many breakthroughs the team have, it seems Jonson is always one step ahead.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Now the pressure is on to prove she doesn't have an able-bodied twin.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Coming up, the massive extent of the fraud becomes clear.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01So we've got a significant sum now.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We're talking about in excess of £190,000.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Next, it's farewell, fraudsters, and hello to those thousands
0:12:11 > 0:12:15of people who don't know how, or are too proud, to ask for benefits.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18We meet the people who help them claim what they deserve.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22All these people, we like to call our saints.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Cancer affects one in three.
0:12:29 > 0:12:35When people fall ill with it, treatment can be so severe that it stops them from being able to work.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39But what many sufferers don't realise is that they could be entitled to benefits.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Hearing that dreadful word "cancer"
0:12:44 > 0:12:49aimed directly at you must be one of the most awful things you could ever come across.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53But it's not just the physical effect of the illness that takes its toll.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57It's also the financial and emotional effect as well.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04More than three-quarters of cancer patients suffer financial hardship.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Carlo Langer is one of them.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13Carlo was born in Italy but came to England in 1973 and made it his home.
0:13:13 > 0:13:20But the life he'd built up for himself was suddenly under threat when he went for a check-up in 2008.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22I went to my doctor.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23I had a blood test.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28And he said, "You've got an aggressive cancer.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31"You've got an aggressive prostate cancer."
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Carlo had a difficult choice over which treatment to opt for.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38'They said, "You've got two choices.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41' "We do an operation and take your prostate away,'
0:13:41 > 0:13:46"and 90% become impotent and incontinent.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48"Or we do this course
0:13:48 > 0:13:50"of female hormones
0:13:50 > 0:13:52"and radiotherapy.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55"You will become impotent and incontinent for a little while,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58"but as you get better, you go back to normal."
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Obviously, I went for the second option.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07The treatment knocked the stuffing out of him.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12But the radiotherapy dragged on, and when Carlo was ready to work again
0:14:12 > 0:14:15a few months later, he had lost his job.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22Suddenly, going through all the problems of having cancer,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26you know, to make it worse, your job is not there any more.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29So you've got financial worries kicking in now.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32- And it's really a dark tunnel in front of you.- Yeah.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36And then, really, that's when I was at my lowest.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39I really was at my lowest.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43You know, OK, I've got cancer, fine.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45But why now, on top of that,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49- all these problems with money?- So was there a fear of losing your flat?
0:14:49 > 0:14:51- It's all I've got.- Yeah.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53You know, this is...
0:14:53 > 0:14:57After 35 years of hard work, this is it.
0:14:57 > 0:15:03During one of his hospital visits, Carlo was told about his local Maggie's Centre.
0:15:03 > 0:15:09Maggie's is one of several charities that helps people deal with the effects of cancer.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13When somebody tells you that you've got something
0:15:13 > 0:15:16that potentially may end your life sooner than later,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21having that mortality pushed right in front of your face
0:15:21 > 0:15:27really brings up a lot of questions of "Why me? What's happening to my life?
0:15:27 > 0:15:29"What's the future going to hold?"
0:15:29 > 0:15:33But the future is made even more uncertain for cancer sufferers
0:15:33 > 0:15:40with money problems, so the charity also offers financial advice, something Carlo desperately needed.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43'I had no more savings.'
0:15:43 > 0:15:45I was in debt.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48My family was helping me a lot, from Italy.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50That's terribly humiliating.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Dependent on family handouts, Carlo was at an all-time low.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Jay Shah has been an advisor at the centre since it opened.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05He helps people claim benefits when they have nowhere else to turn.
0:16:06 > 0:16:12Give me an idea - for somebody who wasn't claiming, who all of a sudden found out they had cancer,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16and ticked all the appropriate boxes, how much difference could that mean weekly, financially?
0:16:16 > 0:16:20That could mean approximately up to £500 a week, for example.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22- 500?- That's correct.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26These are the sort of things which people like Carlo
0:16:26 > 0:16:31are too weak, too stressed, too worried, to be doing themselves.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34They need you. It's what you do, and you're passionate about it.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38And when you've got an illness like cancer, all your...energy,
0:16:38 > 0:16:43your mind... You know, you've got this big, heavy cross to bear.
0:16:45 > 0:16:52Jay achieved his aim when it came to Carlo, finding him a desperately needed £200 per week in benefits.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59We managed to get him the council tax benefit, the pension credit.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01His mortgage interest was covered.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06The disability living allowance, road tax exemption, the blue parking badge and the taxi card.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10What difference has Maggie's made to you?
0:17:10 > 0:17:15Changed my life. Changed my life. Financially, mentally.
0:17:15 > 0:17:16Has your treatment finished?
0:17:16 > 0:17:20I just got my result of the PSA today.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22And...
0:17:22 > 0:17:23- Thumbs up.- Thumbs up.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28- Over a year now. - Congratulations on that.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31When this programme goes out, there will be people watching
0:17:31 > 0:17:35who might be experiencing what you've experienced. Would you have advice for them?
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Yes. Look around. The help is there. Ask.
0:17:44 > 0:17:51Marianne Jonson is under suspicion of claiming nearly £200,000 worth of benefits she's not entitled to.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57The Brent Council fraud team suspects she is using
0:17:57 > 0:18:02two identities, Jonson and Romanov, one disabled and one able-bodied.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07The latest hurdle the team face is disproving her claim to have a twin sister.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10To do this, they're tracking down her birth certificate.
0:18:10 > 0:18:18And when they eventually get it, it reveals more than they bargained for.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21We did some research through the UK Passport Agency,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and we found that she'd changed her name a number of times from about the age of 21.
0:18:25 > 0:18:32Marianne Jonson hasn't just changed her name once, not even twice.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36In fact, she has had ten names over 30 years...
0:18:36 > 0:18:42including Nina Najib Hamzah II, Harley Pitsillidou,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Bobbi Duxbury and Countess Mariaska Romanov.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51With every application for a passport in a new name, she had to state her last one,
0:18:51 > 0:18:57and this helped Simon piece together all her identities and link the names as evidence.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05'Of all Marianne's names, the most surprising one is actually on her birth certificate.'
0:19:05 > 0:19:11She was born a man. Robert Anthony Duxbury.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17So Robert Duxbury actually turned out to be...?
0:19:17 > 0:19:20The Countess, Mariaska Romanov.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25'The sex change wasn't the only revelation on the birth certificate.'
0:19:25 > 0:19:30The importance of this document was that it didn't have a time of birth on it.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33When you're a twin, you have the time of birth recorded.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38- So it was essential from that perspective to disprove the twin theory.- Right, OK.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41It's a turning-point for the case.
0:19:41 > 0:19:47The fraud team have now established from her birth certificate that Marianne Jonson didn't have a twin,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and the passport applications provide concrete proof
0:19:50 > 0:19:54that she and Mariaska Romanov are the same person.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00The two identities had to be kept separate.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05In her identity as Marianne Jonson, she pretended to be paraplegic.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10When housing officers came round to assess her, she had to convince them she was disabled.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16So when they turned up, what would the scenario be?
0:20:16 > 0:20:18They'd go into the property, she'd be in bed.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20She'd often have the curtains drawn,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24because she claimed to be light-sensitive as well as being unable to move and paraplegic.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Claiming to be light-sensitive allows Marianne to cover up
0:20:29 > 0:20:35and to keep the rooms of her house dark during social worker visits.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Rather handy if you don't want be recognised when out and about.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48The net is closing in on Jonson, but the team still need to find out
0:20:48 > 0:20:52if she is making any money from the cafe.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55If it's profitable, she would not be entitled to income support.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59So we asked her to submit accounts.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01It took her a while to do that.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But when she does, the accounts come in.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Looking back at them now, they're clearly understated.
0:21:07 > 0:21:13So she tells us she's making a loss so the council don't pressure her for rental income.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16- She's a shrewd cookie, isn't she? - Shrewd cookie, yeah.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Jonson is still blissfully unaware that she was being investigated,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24but all that was about to change.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29We arranged a sting operation with our environmental health colleagues.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31They arranged a food safety inspection.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34They obviously need the owner of the cafe to be there for that.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39So we got her there. They do the inspection and leave. She's then arrested.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42- Immediately afterwards.- Yeah. - Bang, caught in the act.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Caught in the act of being the owner of the cafe.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49At that point, tell me she put her hands up and said "All right, you've got me, it's a fair cop"!
0:21:49 > 0:21:53She didn't say anything. She gave no comment at the first interview at the police station,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56and for every subsequent interview, she gave no comment, essentially.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Didn't offer an explanation.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04Marianne may not be 'fessing up, but while she's under arrest the cafe's being searched
0:22:04 > 0:22:08and some incriminating CCTV footage is seized.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13- This is stuff that she's recorded for her own security.- Yeah.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16- And it's helped bring her down. - Yeah.- Hmm!
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Yeah. That's her there, just walking around.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23We'll see her serve some customers in a minute.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27In that shot, I don't think you ever would say "that is a criminal".
0:22:27 > 0:22:29That is somebody
0:22:29 > 0:22:33- who is absolutely...- Well-respected member of the community.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Her flat is also subjected to a detailed fingertip search,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42and the team discover plenty more evidence
0:22:42 > 0:22:47that Marianne Jonson isn't in need of benefits.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51The evidence that we gained from that was principally around...
0:22:51 > 0:22:55photographs that had been stored, which showed Miss Jonson abroad.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00No apparent signs of mobility problems. No sign of any walking aids or a wheelchair.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06- Expensive furs. Genuine?- Yeah.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11We found evidence of her purchases of these furs through her bank records.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15This is a woman who liked to spend the money. She had it rolling in left, right and centre.
0:23:15 > 0:23:20She liked the luxuries. Expensive handbags, furs, jewellery. She liked to live the high life.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22- She did. - At the expense of everybody else.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27- Yeah.- One of aliases was a countess. Was there any substance to that?
0:23:27 > 0:23:30- She wasn't a countess. - But she wanted to live the life of one, didn't she?
0:23:30 > 0:23:36I suspect she wanted to appear as though she had a lot of wealth and maybe appear as some sort of royalty.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42Nearly £200,000 worth of taxpayers' money went into Marianne Jonson's pockets.
0:23:42 > 0:23:48The furs and bags they found in the search may point to where some of it went.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53But they also found a piece of evidence about the cafe on her computer.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55We also get some crucial spreadsheets,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00which show that she's deliberately understating the cafe income.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03That proves crucial in the court case.
0:24:03 > 0:24:09So on top of all the disability benefits, income support and free accommodation
0:24:09 > 0:24:14she's had from the Government, Jonson's also been raking in money from the cafe,
0:24:14 > 0:24:19not declared it, not paid tax and not paid the rent to the council.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25How much was she pulling in? Give me an idea on a weekly basis, in benefits.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29From 2004, we're talking about just over £700 a week.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32She's milked the system unbelievably, hasn't she?
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Yeah, she has milked it.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38It's hard to say you're shocked in this job, but in terms of an individual claimant
0:24:38 > 0:24:41with two identities, which is effectively what happened here,
0:24:41 > 0:24:46it's one of the highest we've seen and one of the most complicated we've had to deal with.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51It's taken Simon and his team over two years to pull together all the evidence.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56But at last, he has all the proof he needs to present a case against Marianne Jonson.
0:24:59 > 0:25:06The trial finally got under way at Harrow Crown Court in February 2010.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12She ambled into the court. I mean, she kind of walked as if she had
0:25:12 > 0:25:17a genuine disability. It seemed like something that maybe she'd got used to doing.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20But after a while, it occurred to me that she seemed to be
0:25:20 > 0:25:23making things up on the spot, and things didn't correlate.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Things didn't seem to work out.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29She had numerous bank accounts in numerous different names,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31different passports.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33It all became a bit of a blur, really.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36She was obviously playing quite an intelligent game,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and she managed to confuse other people as well, I guess.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52She spent ten years claiming benefits she wasn't entitled to, including...
0:26:03 > 0:26:05The punishment wasn't small, either.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07The judge sentenced her
0:26:07 > 0:26:10to four and a half years in jail.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Some people who get caught out say,
0:26:15 > 0:26:21"It's a fair cop." But she didn't, and so she got a very large jail sentence.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26Sometimes the court likes to hear that people are contrite, don't they?
0:26:26 > 0:26:31My own personal view is that anybody who describes themselves
0:26:31 > 0:26:34as the Countess Mariaska Romanov
0:26:34 > 0:26:37has a loose relationship with the truth.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42I think it's a great shame that she didn't use her talents
0:26:42 > 0:26:45to promote the cafe, cos it was a successful cafe.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47It still is a successful cafe.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51But I'm glad the investigation is over, glad we got a good result.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53So whoever that anonymous caller was,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55thanks very much.
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