0:00:02 > 0:00:06What makes this country great is we give money to people who need it.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10But wherever there's money, people want to steal it.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Welcome to the world of Saints & Scroungers.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39'Saints & Scroungers puts the spotlight on benefit thieves
0:00:39 > 0:00:44'who ruthlessly steal millions every year from the tax payer,
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 don't know how to claim benefits they deserve.
0:00:52 > 0:00:57'The saints help, and the scroungers get tracked down by investigators
0:00:57 > 0:00:59'who end their devious scams.'
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Coming up on today's programme,
0:01:03 > 0:01:10'the net closes in on a fantasist who swindled the state of £40,000.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:14We'll find you, come after you, prosecute you and get the money back.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17'And saintly salvation for a family
0:01:17 > 0:01:21'brought to their knees by devastating news.'
0:01:21 > 0:01:25When we told him, he said, "You can't die now, Dad..."
0:01:33 > 0:01:37'First, the fantasist who swindled thousands of pounds,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40'then tried to forge her way out of trouble.'
0:01:41 > 0:01:43I love a good read,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46losing myself in a book with a gripping plot
0:01:46 > 0:01:47and colourful characters.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52The thing is, I know that's exactly what it is - pure fiction.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58For some people, that line between fantasy and fiction starts to blur.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02That's when telling a good story turns into lying.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07'Lying is something benefit cheats do well
0:02:07 > 0:02:11'and one woman who specialised in telling porky pies
0:02:11 > 0:02:13'is Bernadette O'Driscoll.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19'For many years, she lived in an exclusive Hertfordshire community,
0:02:19 > 0:02:25'thanks to the generosity of a literary charity housing her.
0:02:25 > 0:02:32'The charity accepts residents in need who have a connection to the literary world.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36'Bernadette claimed to have no savings or assets,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40'and that her father used to work in publishing.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44'She then set about applying for income support
0:02:44 > 0:02:47'and to have her rent and council tax paid.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51'Over six years, Bernadette claimed over £40,000,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55'living a privileged life, courtesy of the tax payer.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00'This life was about to be turned upside down when fraud investigators
0:03:00 > 0:03:03'from Three Rivers District Council received a tip-off
0:03:03 > 0:03:06'that she was being less than honest about her circumstances.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12'This sparked a full enquiry led by Senior Fraud Investigator Annie Hickles.'
0:03:12 > 0:03:16I got a referral from the housing benefit section.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20They'd received an anonymous call that Bernadette O'Driscoll
0:03:20 > 0:03:23owned a property in Wales.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27I needed to look into whether or not that allegation was true.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31'Owning a property and not declaring it could mean
0:03:31 > 0:03:35'that O'Driscoll is not entitled to government help.'
0:03:35 > 0:03:39It's no surprise that benefit cheats lie.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42But when it comes to telling porky pies about property,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47fraud investigators have very useful data right at their fingertips.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I looked up on a website to find out
0:03:53 > 0:03:58if the property in Wales did exist and if it had been sold recently.
0:03:58 > 0:04:04I then had the full address with the postcode that I could send off for a Land Registry check.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07The Land Registry house information
0:04:07 > 0:04:11or title deeds on all properties in the United Kingdom.
0:04:11 > 0:04:19They provide details of who owns the property, when it was registered to them and how much they paid.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21When the Land Registry came back, it told us
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Bernadette O'Driscoll purchased the property in September 2005,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30and that the price paid was 88,950.
0:04:30 > 0:04:37Because there is no registered charge on there, that money was paid in cash.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42'Bingo! O'Driscoll categorically does own the house in Wales,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44'and it's mortgage-free.'
0:04:44 > 0:04:48That would put her capital investment over £16,000,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52so she wouldn't have entitlement to Housing or Council Tax Benefit.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59'Did O'Driscoll mention the Welsh property on her application forms?'
0:04:59 > 0:05:02There's a particular question asking
0:05:02 > 0:05:06if the person is in receipt of any property
0:05:06 > 0:05:09other than the home they live in.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14In every single application, Miss O'Driscoll has declared no.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19'Not declaring capital assets in order to falsely claim benefits
0:05:19 > 0:05:22'is a serious offence.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27'The fraud team then unearthed another hot lead -
0:05:27 > 0:05:33'an address on one application form that points to a property in Bristol.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37'She's summoned for questioning under caution.'
0:05:37 > 0:05:39'Could you state your full name?'
0:05:41 > 0:05:46'You're not under arrest and you're free to leave any time.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48'On the last page, it states that
0:05:48 > 0:05:52'you've moved to our area from a Bristol address?'
0:06:08 > 0:06:14'Bernadette O'Driscoll admits she sold a property in Bristol,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'but claims it was legitimate
0:06:16 > 0:06:20'because the capital was being held in trust for her niece.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24'The documents suggest it was Bernadette's late father
0:06:24 > 0:06:29'who set up the trust in relation to a London property he once owned,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32'naming Bernadette as the trustee.'
0:06:32 > 0:06:36' "I here unto set my hand to this declaration of trust
0:06:36 > 0:06:39' "this eighth day of June 1987."
0:06:39 > 0:06:41'And it's got your name underneath.'
0:06:41 > 0:06:49'If the document is legitimate, Bernadette hasn't done anything wrong, but it looks a bit dodgy.'
0:06:59 > 0:07:05'The fact the trust wasn't drawn up by a solicitor makes Annie more suspicious.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08'But at least the interview clarified the chain of events.'
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Bernadette explained that her father had owned a property in London.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17The property had been sold. They moved to a Bristol address.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19That property was sold.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24She then invested the money into various accounts,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29moved into our area and then purchased a holiday home in Wales,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33which she said she was entitled to do because it was held in trust.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38'Annie believes there's more to this trust than meets the eye.
0:07:38 > 0:07:44'Could Bernadette be using it to hide her assets?'
0:07:44 > 0:07:49If someone's lying and they're trying to cover their tracks,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52we won't give up, I will keep going.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58'The investigation into suspected scrounger Bernadette O'Driscoll
0:07:58 > 0:08:01'has been under way for four months.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04'She's proving to be a formidable adversary.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08'Annie Hickles believes O'Driscoll has stolen over 40 grand
0:08:08 > 0:08:13'by failing to declare a property in Wales while claiming benefits.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16'Under questioning, brazen Bernadette counter-attacked,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19'claiming it was held in trust for her niece.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22'And she was about to complicate things further.'
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Out of the blue, I received this document by post.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30It's saying someone's a co-trustee of the alleged trust.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35It isn't on legal headed paper but it does have a solicitor's stamp.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41'Knowing suspicions had been raised about the first trust deed,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43'Bernadette magicked up another.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48'Then, in an apparently deliberate ploy to stall the investigation,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51'a third trust document mysteriously arrives.'
0:08:51 > 0:08:55It's not got a signature of Bernadette O'Driscoll.
0:08:55 > 0:09:00This time, it has a signature of Bernadette's father, John Cadfryn-Roberts.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02OK, then. Bye for now...
0:09:02 > 0:09:06'Annie tracks down the solicitors named on the trust documents
0:09:06 > 0:09:10'and sends over all three versions for inspection.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14'It turns out it's the same firm who drew up Bernadette's father's will.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18'The solicitor's beady eye immediately spots something.'
0:09:18 > 0:09:23I noticed that it had a reference, as you would expect.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29LT/104874, and then a date, 28.3.89.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Also, on the foot of the title page
0:09:34 > 0:09:38of the declaration of trust, which Annie Hickles had sent to me,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42there was also a reference which, rather surprisingly,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46was the same reference that was on the will.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48The strange thing about that
0:09:48 > 0:09:53was that if this declaration of trust was a genuine document,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56it would have had its own reference.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01It also had a date at the end of it,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04which was strangely, to my mind, typed in.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07When you go back to the will,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12the date at the end of the document was written in, which is usual.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17That, again, indicated to me that it was not a genuine document
0:10:17 > 0:10:21and could not have been prepared by any practising solicitor.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27'The revelations are a major breakthrough.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29'If the trust is a fake,
0:10:29 > 0:10:32'Bernadette will be bang to rights.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36'Annie needs more evidence, so she turns her attention
0:10:36 > 0:10:39'to the mysterious signatory on the second deed.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44'The question is, does he even know Bernadette O'Driscoll?'
0:10:46 > 0:10:48'The fraud team set to work
0:10:48 > 0:10:53'and, after a bit of hunting, track down the signatory.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56'He does claim to have known Bernadette in the past.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58'Annie arranged to meet him in a pub
0:10:58 > 0:11:02'but when she presented the document bearing his signature
0:11:02 > 0:11:05'he adamantly denied all knowledge and convinced Annie
0:11:05 > 0:11:08'he'd never seen the trust before, let alone signed it.'
0:11:08 > 0:11:13He was gob-smacked that she had done that without his authorisation.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Hang on a second.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23This case is getting more and more complex for the fraud investigators, let alone me.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Let me try and simplify it.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29The team is in possession of three trust deeds.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31They look a bit ropey.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36We do know that Bernadette O'Driscoll owns a house in Wales
0:11:36 > 0:11:38that she paid £88,950 for in cash.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43But the money to buy that came from the sale of a property in Bristol.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48And the money to buy that came from the sale of a flat in London
0:11:48 > 0:11:50which Bernadette's dad owned.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54From that, Bernadette wants us to believe the trust originated.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57You see? It's a piece of cake!
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Ha!
0:12:01 > 0:12:06'It's time to haul the fraudster back in for questioning.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08'What the investigators need to do
0:12:08 > 0:12:11'is prove the trust is a fake.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16'If it is, Bernadette would not be entitled to the £40,000 she's so far
0:12:16 > 0:12:18'claimed in benefits.'
0:12:21 > 0:12:25- Could you state your full name? - Bernadette O'Driscoll.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31'They believe a discrepancy between the sale of her London property
0:12:31 > 0:12:36'and the date the trust was set up could crack the case.'
0:12:36 > 0:12:38GARRY: The information we obtained
0:12:38 > 0:12:42is that property was not owned by your father at that date.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04Let me just explain...
0:13:04 > 0:13:08This trust document that deals with that address,
0:13:08 > 0:13:14for which you're saying, "I didn't tell you cos it was in trust."
0:13:14 > 0:13:18You should have told us, and this trust doesn't seem to mean anything.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24' O'Driscoll was clearly feeling the heat but the team had a problem.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29'They cannot access the title deeds for the London property,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33'which would prove in court the date of sale.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35'Just when they thought they had her,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37'Bernadette's slipping through the net.'
0:13:37 > 0:13:40By now, I was getting quite, um...
0:13:40 > 0:13:43I suppose the word is confused
0:13:43 > 0:13:47as to what was true and what wasn't. I needed more evidence.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55'Later in the programme, a forensic breakthrough.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58'Will it be enough to put O'Driscoll in court?'
0:14:02 > 0:14:07'From the scroungers ripping off the system to the people we call saints,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11'who help put money into the pockets of people in genuine need,
0:14:11 > 0:14:17'and the people who are too proud or simply don't know how to claim what's rightfully theirs.'
0:14:20 > 0:14:26Being told you are seriously or terminally ill doesn't bear thinking about.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28But if you're the main breadwinner,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32how are you going to support the ones you love?
0:14:32 > 0:14:36If you're too ill to work, who's going to pay the bills?
0:14:38 > 0:14:43'44-year-old Michael Medd used to work as a testing engineer.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48'In February 2007, he collapsed at work and was rushed to hospital.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51'Michael was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55'Life as he knew it was over.'
0:14:55 > 0:14:58After having the tumour and my kidney removed,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02I was hoping that was the cancer gone.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08Unfortunately, a year down the line, the cancer came back.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13It ended up going on both lungs and two lymph glands next to my heart,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16which made it impossible for them to operate.
0:15:16 > 0:15:23It turns your whole world upside down because you were told that you didn't have long to live.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29'Michael was struggling to cope, but not just emotionally.
0:15:29 > 0:15:36'Unable to work, Michael and Angela found themselves in financial dire straits.'
0:15:36 > 0:15:41You've got the same bills coming in but I was on, probably, 10%
0:15:41 > 0:15:44of what I was originally earning.
0:15:44 > 0:15:50I had to drop my hours to part-time, to be here to care for him.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52So it was a real big strain.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Incapacity Benefit, that was the only thing we got, initially.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00At the time, I think it was about £70 a week.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04'To add to the financial pressure,
0:16:04 > 0:16:08'Michael and Angela have a large family, including two daughters,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10'and now two grandchildren.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14'They're also primary carers for their autistic son, Robert.
0:16:14 > 0:16:21'I want to find out more about Michael and how he's coping with this desperate situation.'
0:16:21 > 0:16:26- Tell me about your life up until you became ill.- The job was going OK.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29I earned good money. Family life was great.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33But total devastation come that day when I collapsed at work,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36wondering what was going on with me.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Up until then, everything was champion, you know.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44- A granddad in his early 40s. You must be very proud.- Extremely.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Because, funny enough, Robert, with his autism,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51when we told him that I didn't have long to live,
0:16:51 > 0:16:57- he said, "You can't die now, Dad, because you're not a granddad." - Must have hurt.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59It did.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17It's hard because...at the time
0:17:17 > 0:17:19when I told him...
0:17:20 > 0:17:25..it was the worst thing we've ever had to do, you know.
0:17:26 > 0:17:32'Surviving on around £70 a week Incapacity Benefit
0:17:32 > 0:17:34'and Angela's reduced part-time wage,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38'financially and emotionally, they were at rock bottom.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44'A Macmillan nurse started worrying about how Angela was coping.'
0:17:44 > 0:17:46She saw me dipping.
0:17:46 > 0:17:52And she said, "Angela, I think you need some help."
0:17:54 > 0:17:59'The Macmillan nurse referred Angela to the George Hardwick Foundation,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03'a charitable organisation dedicated to supporting carers.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05'They arranged for Angela to receive counselling.'
0:18:05 > 0:18:11It really helped me. I walked in one day and I was absolutely in pieces.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16'The Foundation then turned their attentions to one of the root causes of the stress - money.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20'Their household outgoings were exceeding their income.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24'Michael was invited to the centre...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27'to meet Geoff Christison,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30an information advisor who dedicates his life
0:18:30 > 0:18:35'to helping people like Michael and Angela get their full entitlement.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40'Last year, more than £126.5 million went unclaimed
0:18:40 > 0:18:43'by terminally-ill cancer patients.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48'Thanks to people like Geoff, some of this stash of money finds its way
0:18:48 > 0:18:50'into the pockets of those who desperately need it.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55'Geoff immediately spots a benefit Michael should be entitled to,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57'Disability Living Allowance.'
0:18:57 > 0:18:59Disability Living Allowance
0:18:59 > 0:19:03is a benefit for anybody under 65 who has a serious medical condition.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06The normal rules are that you've been poorly for three months
0:19:06 > 0:19:08and likely to be poorly for the next six.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Michael had been turned down for Disability Living Allowance at first
0:19:12 > 0:19:15which shows how difficult, sometimes, these situations are.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20'Geoff believes Michael may have
0:19:20 > 0:19:23'failed to complete the application correctly.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27'It's up to his expertise to ensure the new claim presents a solid case.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31'And it's good news. This time, Michael's been approved
0:19:31 > 0:19:35and that means a precious extra £50 per week.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40- I feel positive for you both. - I hope you're right. We'll keep positive.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42- I'll keep it up here.- Yeah.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45- Keep smiling.- That's it.- Yes.
0:19:49 > 0:19:55Mick and Angela demonstrate how important it is to ask for help when you need it.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00No point feeling guilty. If you're genuine, that's what it's there for.
0:20:00 > 0:20:06It's given them something so valuable you can't put a price on it -
0:20:06 > 0:20:09more time together. Think about it.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21'Now, on to the next chapter of Bernadette O'Driscoll.'
0:20:21 > 0:20:24It's been a gripping story so far.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30She has come under the scrutiny of the Three Rivers District Council fraud investigators,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34who suspect that she has fleeced thousands of pounds of benefits
0:20:34 > 0:20:36that she's not entitled to.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44'To the untrained eye, Bernadette O'Driscoll looks like a woman
0:20:44 > 0:20:47'deserving of the £40,000 of benefits
0:20:47 > 0:20:51'that she's been merrily claiming for over a decade.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56'But she had a stash of money invested in a property in Wales.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59'She's not just living off tax-payers' money.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02'She's been housed by a literary charity.'
0:21:04 > 0:21:06This is the benefits office,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10where the real world of fraud investigation takes place.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13These guys only deal with cold, hard facts.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Garry, Bernadette O'Driscoll. Tell me about her.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Um...
0:21:19 > 0:21:22- Complicated. - Ouch. Don't like the sound of that.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26It was made complicated by her and by her deception.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30She made no admissions throughout the investigation.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33- Kept denying everything? - So it complicated the process.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36We discovered she had had a number of properties.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39What complicated it was they were in trust.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43- She was trying to hide that she was a beneficiary.- Absolutely.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49'This alleged trust would mean Bernadette's money invested in the Welsh property
0:21:49 > 0:21:54'was merely being held on behalf of a beneficiary, Bernadette's niece.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59'What the investigators need to do is somehow prove or disprove it.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03'The case had been active for over a year, and for much of this,
0:22:03 > 0:22:09'Bernadette's benefits were frozen, and she wasn't a happy chappy.'
0:22:09 > 0:22:13We got bombarded with letters, complaints.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18She complained to the Ombudsman, to our Chief Executive.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21She complained to the Law Society,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23alleging that we were incompetent.
0:22:23 > 0:22:29Abusive phone calls, anything to get us to stop the investigation.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31'The threats didn't end there.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35'She turned on fellow residents at the literary charity
0:22:35 > 0:22:38'and, without any evidence, accused them of shopping her.'
0:22:38 > 0:22:40She was putting up posters,
0:22:40 > 0:22:46threatening residents that they had reported her, done this, done that.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50which led to Bernadette O'Driscoll receiving a warning.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54'Convinced that they'd got a fully fledged criminal on their hands,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57'the team's sole mission
0:22:57 > 0:23:02'is to build a rock solid case that will hold up in court.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07'So far, they have been told by a solicitor that one trust deed
0:23:07 > 0:23:12'is likely to be a fake, but that's not enough to convince a jury.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17'To get hard evidence, the trust document is sent to forensic experts
0:23:17 > 0:23:21'who specialise in handwriting analysis.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23'The results are conclusive.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27'The signature of O'Driscoll's father is not what it seems.'
0:23:27 > 0:23:32It was a cut-and-paste job from his last will and testament
0:23:32 > 0:23:35onto this alleged trust document.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39Therefore, it wasn't a true and correct document.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42'So, hard proof.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47'Devious O'Driscoll, armed with a photocopier and a pair of scissors,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52'had cut her late father's signature and pasted it on a fake trust deed.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54'Just how low can you go?
0:23:56 > 0:24:00'The trust was the main part of Bernadette's defence,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'that the money wasn't actually hers.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07'Scientific analysis now backed up all the other research
0:24:07 > 0:24:11'and proved that the trust document was false.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15'What about the niece who the money was supposed to go to?
0:24:15 > 0:24:21'The team spent months looking for her and her dad, Bernadette's brother.'
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Finally, we got the first communication that we had with him.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30In actual fact, his daughter, when he provided the date of birth,
0:24:30 > 0:24:35wasn't born until a year after this alleged trust was in place
0:24:35 > 0:24:38for his daughter.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Unless he'd had a premonition that she was going to be born,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45it had to be false.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51'After three years, Annie and Garry had the proof they needed -
0:24:51 > 0:24:54'a confirmed fake trust deed
0:24:54 > 0:24:58'and evidence that the niece named wasn't born when it was drawn up.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01'It put Bernadette O'Driscoll in front of a judge.'
0:25:01 > 0:25:06She was a lot more quiet in the courtroom.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09She certainly didn't lose her temper.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17Bernadette was still adamant that the trust document was true.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21I couldn't believe it, given the evidence proving it wasn't.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23'The jury were having none of it.'
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Guilty.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29'It was not the first time she had been caught red-handed.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33'In 2000, Bristol Crown Court prosecuted her
0:25:33 > 0:25:37'for perverting the course of justice - what a surprise(!)'
0:25:37 > 0:25:39It's a great result.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45We just hope we don't get any similar cases for a while, to recover.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49A lot of hard work had gone into it. Justice was done.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54'Bernadette O'Driscoll was found guilty on all 12 charges,
0:25:54 > 0:25:59'from obtaining money by deception to making false representations.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03'Because of her health, this cheat was spared a stretch inside,
0:26:03 > 0:26:08'but she was landed with an 18-month suspended sentence
0:26:08 > 0:26:10'and a confiscation order
0:26:10 > 0:26:12'to pay back a total of...
0:26:16 > 0:26:18'After harassing her fellow residents,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21'and the discovery she wasn't in need of help,
0:26:21 > 0:26:27'the charity had no choice but to issue an eviction notice.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31'But in true Bernadette style, she refused to go,
0:26:31 > 0:26:36'forcing the charity to spend a further £25,000 in court costs
0:26:36 > 0:26:38'to get rid of her.'
0:26:41 > 0:26:46Fact CAN be stranger than fiction, when it comes to the fantasy life
0:26:46 > 0:26:48of someone like Bernadette O'Driscoll.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52Like all good stories, the good guys come out on top.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56A happy ending for you and me. Not so great for Bernadette.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Subtitling by Red Bee Media Ltd