0:00:02 > 0:00:05What makes this country great is that we give money to people who need it,
0:00:05 > 0:00:10but the only problem with that is, wherever there's money, there are people who want to steal it.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Welcome to the world of Saints and Scroungers.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Saints and Scroungers puts the spotlight
0:00:38 > 0:00:44on benefit thieves who ruthlessly steal millions of pounds every year from the British taxpayer.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48And it highlights the plight of men and women who are too proud
0:00:48 > 0:00:52or simply don't know how to claim the benefits they deserve.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55The saints get help and the scroungers
0:00:55 > 0:00:58get tracked down by the fraud investigators
0:00:58 > 0:01:01who put an end to their devious scams.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06And coming up on today's programme: A suitcase full of documentation
0:01:06 > 0:01:10sets off alarm bells in Croydon's fraud office.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14That raised questions as to what this was doing in somebody's garden shed.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17And a loving father who takes on an unfair law.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21It just seems crazy that somebody who suspends
0:01:21 > 0:01:26their studies for illness, you know, serious illness, doesn't get a penny.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32But first, most fraud investigations involve tip-offs,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36but not all of them come from the bottom of a garden.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Look, it's a bloke thing. We like rummaging round in garden sheds.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Just look at all the useful stuff in here, stepladders, bits of wood, come in very handy.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Power tools, I like a bit of DIY and...
0:01:50 > 0:01:52what is this?!
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Surely not a pile of incriminating evidence?
0:01:55 > 0:01:59No-one would be stupid enough to leave that lying around - would they?
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Meet Juliet Ubiribo, a single mum of two.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Born in Nigeria, but naturalised a British citizen.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13She was living in Croydon in south London and claiming thousands
0:02:13 > 0:02:18of pounds worth of housing benefit which went to her landlord, Mr Neburagho.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24She was also hiding a secret about him which she thought would never be discovered, but she was wrong.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Because when the fraud department at Croydon Council
0:02:28 > 0:02:33get a sniff of something suspicious, they get the investigators on to it.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35And in this case, it was Zoe Neale.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38I'll let her tell you the story.
0:02:38 > 0:02:45In 2003, Juliet Ubiribo came to Croydon Council and she claimed housing benefit on the basis she was
0:02:45 > 0:02:51a single parent with two children, she was on low earnings and she needed help to pay her rent.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55She claimed that her landlord was Mr Neburagho, and she and Mr Neburagho
0:02:55 > 0:03:01produced documentation which said that he did not live at the property, he lived in Acton.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04So, nothing out of the ordinary so far.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Juliet stayed at the property for four years.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09During that time she claimed a total of...
0:03:13 > 0:03:15..in housing and council tax benefit.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20Most of it, just over £40,000, was housing benefit and it went
0:03:20 > 0:03:25to her landlord, Mr Neburagho, but then there was a change in her circumstances.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31In 2007 she came to the council to say that she needed to be re-housed
0:03:31 > 0:03:34because the house was being sold, her landlord was selling up.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38And he was. Nothing wrong with a landlord selling a house
0:03:38 > 0:03:41or a tenant needing help to find somewhere to live.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45So far, this pair had done little to attract attention to themselves.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50However, the house in question happened to be sold to a fraud investigator from Croydon Council.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Believe it or not, they move home as well, you know.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01The colleague moved in and eventually they found in the garden shed a suitcase full of documentation.
0:04:01 > 0:04:08This documentation was copies of financial statements, copies of letters from bailiffs, and a lot
0:04:08 > 0:04:14of immigration documentation belonging to people, who, as far as they knew didn't live at the house.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18And being a fraud investigator, the new owner went through
0:04:18 > 0:04:24this paperwork with interest and one particular piece of paper caught their well-trained eye.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30Among the items, they found a lot of correspondence from debt collecting agencies, in the name of Neburagho,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33which was strange as he was not supposed to live at the address.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38So, the alarm bells started to ring, but not too loudly at this stage.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44Yes, it was strange that a letter had been sent to Mr Neburagho, even though he didn't live there,
0:04:44 > 0:04:51but he was the landlord, he owned the property, maybe there was a mix-up, so, the story continues.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55Juliet Ubiribo came back to Croydon Council, claiming she was homeless,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59on the basis that her ex-partner is being abusive to her.
0:04:59 > 0:05:06Now, claiming she was suffering from abuse and homelessness was a serious matter and anyone in this situation
0:05:06 > 0:05:09is quite rightly put at the top of the list for a council house,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12but Zoe noticed something strange about the phone number
0:05:12 > 0:05:15that Juliet had given for an ex-partner,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and it's often these little things that trip up the big fraudsters.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23The phone number she supplied for her ex-partner
0:05:23 > 0:05:27matched the phone number as being Mr Neburagho, who's also her landlord.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Wow! Those alarm bells were definitely ringing now.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Could Juliet's ex-partner be her landlord,
0:05:34 > 0:05:39the man she had paid over £40,000 worth of housing benefit to?
0:05:39 > 0:05:44And what about the documents found in the shed, the visa applications and immigration papers?
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Could they be tied in to this case as well?
0:05:47 > 0:05:50What had begun as a simple application for help finding
0:05:50 > 0:05:53a new home had grown into a potential fraud case.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Zoe decided she needed back-up.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00At about that time, we started working with UKBA,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04the UK Border Agency, to look at the immigration aspect of the case.
0:06:04 > 0:06:10Because Mr Neburagho was supposed to be a British-born Nigerian, Juliet Ubiribo was born in Nigeria,
0:06:10 > 0:06:15but was a naturalised British citizen, but enquiries showed she was married to Mr Mayomi,
0:06:15 > 0:06:20who was a Nigerian national, but had applied to come to the UK on a spouse visa.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26So, Juliet was married - to a Mr Nelson Mayomi.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31This meant she had lied on the statement she made claiming to be a single parent.
0:06:31 > 0:06:38Mr Mayomi was her husband and it looked as though her ex-partner could have been her landlord,
0:06:38 > 0:06:40but nothing is clear at this stage.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43So, it's time to meet Tina Lyonette,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47a criminal investigator at the UK Border Agency.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51I want to get the low-down on the three people involved in this case -
0:06:51 > 0:06:56Juliet Ubiribo, Mr Mayomi and Mr Neburagho.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59How did the three names in this case come to your attention?
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Originally, Croydon Council were doing an investigation into
0:07:02 > 0:07:07- Mr Mayomi and Juliet Ubiribo for benefit fraud.- Is that the happy couple in that picture?
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Yep, that's Juliet and Mr Mayomi.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12OK, so their names came to your attention.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15- Mm-hmm.- And what about the third one, who was that?
0:07:15 > 0:07:19- Croydon Council had the landlord listed as a Mr Neburagho.- OK.
0:07:19 > 0:07:25I looked on all of the Home Office systems, couldn't find any trace of him at all in the beginning,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28so we were a bit stuck as to what his immigration status was.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32But then we did wonder, perhaps he was British. So I got a copy,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36I asked the passport service to check whether there was
0:07:36 > 0:07:39a British passport in that name, that date of birth and there was.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41So I got hold of a copy of the photograph.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47Matched it to the photograph on the file we had for Mr Mayomi and they were a match.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50- They were the same person. - So, Tina believed that the husband
0:07:50 > 0:07:57and landlord were one and the same, operating under two different identities. Very sneaky.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Now, you can't always rely on photos, because
0:08:00 > 0:08:04age, camera angles and haircuts all affect the way you look.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09So more proof was needed, but one thing seemed increasingly clear -
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Juliet's housing benefit money could have been going straight
0:08:12 > 0:08:17into her husband's pockets and Zoe was convinced there could be more to this case.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22Turning the spotlight onto the Nelson Mayomi identity, she dug deeper
0:08:22 > 0:08:26and being a financial investigator, she has more powers than most.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30The investigators have quite a lot of powers already under the Data Protection Act,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33but as a financial investigator, I can go back further.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36for example if someone was investigating a benefit claim,
0:08:36 > 0:08:41it's two years' worth of overpayment, because of the Proceeds of Crime Act, I can go back six years' worth and
0:08:41 > 0:08:47take into account six years' worth of income and transfers and how they obtain their assets.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51I do like the sound of that Proceeds of Crime Act.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56In a nutshell, if Zoe thinks someone has stolen benefit money and obtained assets as a result of their
0:08:56 > 0:09:03criminal activity, she can go after every illegal penny they've made and make them pay it back.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09In this case, Zoe knew Nelson Mayomi was Juliet's husband and possibly her landlord.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14What she didn't know, though, was how he made a living and she was in for a shock.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18As part of the investigation we did business record checks,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21we found out he was the director of a taxi firm in London.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25As part of my investigation, I'd been looking at his accounts, I found
0:09:25 > 0:09:29in just over a year, £400,000 has gone through the business accounts.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Oh, yes, you heard it right, £400,000.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37And further investigations clearly showed that he was
0:09:37 > 0:09:40enjoying the lifestyle that goes with that sort of money.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47My inquiries when I'd been going through the business records, shows that he spent £14,000 on alcohol,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and this is bulk purchases of champagne and spirits.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56£25,000 of business money was spent on a watch.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59About £2,000 that's been spent on chandeliers
0:09:59 > 0:10:02and those have been exported to Nigeria.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07So, the council thought they were paying benefits to Juliet Ubiribo's landlord,
0:10:07 > 0:10:13when in actual fact, they were paying it to her husband and he was running a very successful taxi firm.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19Clearly, this couple were doing all right for themselves, and £25,000 for a watch?
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Time was running out for this pair of cheats.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Coming up, there's another breakthrough in the Ubiribo case.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29The fingerprints matched and it's a strong piece of evidence.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38From the scroungers ripping off the system to the people we call our saints, those individuals
0:10:38 > 0:10:44who help put money into the pockets of people in genuine need and the people who are too proud,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47or simply don't know how to claim what's due to them.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54The benefit system is there for those people that genuinely need it.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57When it works, it is brilliant.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59But occasionally, it doesn't.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03That's when people who need it and genuinely deserve it can't get it,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06but people power can sometimes change all that.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11Ian Leech is a loving dad and devoted football fan.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13When he moved to Burton-on-Trent in 2007
0:11:13 > 0:11:19with wife Julie and daughters Melissa and Becky, life couldn't have been better.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24Life was good in every way for all of us.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29We'd just moved in to the house and everything was brilliant.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Eldest daughter Melissa was also having the time of her life.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37She was studying psychology at Aston University in Birmingham.
0:11:37 > 0:11:43She'd recently been elected editor of the Aston Times paper and on Saturdays there was football,
0:11:43 > 0:11:45a passion she shared with her dad.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53Saturdays were our time. She, you know, she was just brilliant company to be with. She was very confident.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Yeah, she was just an amazing person.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01But, in early 2007, Melissa started to feel unwell.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Mel started losing weight at Easter time.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09Which wasn't a great surprise considering the hectic lifestyle she was leading at university.
0:12:09 > 0:12:15Then over the summer she had a mouth infection, then a suspected chest infection, there was tonsillitis.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19She then started getting very breathless. We took her to hospital.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22They again confirmed tonsillitis.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24So we came home, but the...
0:12:24 > 0:12:30symptoms continued to show themselves and she, you know...
0:12:30 > 0:12:34was diagnosed the day after her 20th birthday with lymphoma.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38The family were absolutely devastated.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44But they were confident Mel would pull through and the prognosis from the doctors was also reassuring.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48After six rounds of chemotherapy and maybe some radiotherapy,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51they expected Mel to make a full recovery.
0:12:51 > 0:12:57Initially, Mel was determined to stay at university and continue her course whilst having the treatment,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00but then something happened that forced her to change her mind.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07We were at a supermarket and she just collapsed in front of my eyes.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09I managed to catch her.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15We knew from that moment, that day, that really was when we decided,
0:13:15 > 0:13:20"No, we can't do the uni thing and the recovery, it must be one or the other."
0:13:20 > 0:13:23That's when she took the decision to suspend her studies.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28This is when her fight against the disease and against the benefit system began.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33I've come to Burton-on-Trent to meet Ian and find out more.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Obviously she had to come home, but now she's not studying,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42she's not working, how did she cope with money?
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Well, basically, myself and my wife.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50She hadn't drawn on her student loan because the illness was diagnosed in August.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55She hadn't actually drawn on a student loan, so we didn't pursue
0:13:55 > 0:14:01that avenue, because she wasn't studying, so we applied for benefits.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04- And what happened?- We were refused.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07We were refused income support.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12Disablement living allowance, you have to wait three months before you can apply for it.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15We were also told that it then takes three months to process.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19And we applied for incapacity benefit, but again, because she was
0:14:19 > 0:14:25a student and she hadn't paid enough stamps, as they say, then she didn't qualify for that and couldn't
0:14:25 > 0:14:30qualify for that for six months. So, we were left with nothing.
0:14:30 > 0:14:36What was the main reason that benefits were using as their excuse to reject this claim?
0:14:36 > 0:14:42They said because she'd suspended her studies, rather than abandon them, she was still classed
0:14:42 > 0:14:48as a student, and therefore, as a student, she wasn't eligible for any financial support.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52It wasn't that we wanted or Mel wanted
0:14:52 > 0:14:56loads and loads of money, she just needed some money, just to live on.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00She'd gone from being at university and being very independent to suddenly having to ask
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Mum and Dad for everything, and when you're dealing with
0:15:03 > 0:15:08the fact that you've got cancer as well, that's a very difficult thing.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10It just adds to the pressure, to the burden.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Couldn't you at that point just have said, "Cancel the studies," and then got the benefits?
0:15:15 > 0:15:18We could have done. The problem we had with that is that
0:15:18 > 0:15:24Melissa was very much into her student life and she loved it.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28It was one of her goals, one of her aims was to go back
0:15:28 > 0:15:31to university in 12 months' time and carry on where she left off.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Tragically, Melissa never got the chance to carry on where she left off.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Because in early 2008, her condition deteriorated dramatically.
0:15:43 > 0:15:49She had a stem cell transplant, and the idea of the transplant was to hold the disease at bay
0:15:49 > 0:15:54because it was very aggressive, to hold it for 12 weeks in order for her to have a bone marrow transplant.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57That was her only chance of a cure at that point.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Sadly it held it for about seven weeks. On April 1st, of all dates,
0:16:00 > 0:16:05April's Fool's Day, we were given the news that there was nothing more that they could do for her.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19She remained in hospital for a week, ten days and then we took her home
0:16:19 > 0:16:24and we set up her bed underneath the stairs for her, so she was with us.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29She had two wishes, one was to be with her family when she passed away, and the other was that she wanted
0:16:29 > 0:16:33to die at home, she didn't want to die in hospital or in a hospice.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38And thankfully, we managed to do that, and she passed away in the early hours of 11th May.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Words are never enough to describe the loss of a child.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Mel couldn't beat the cancer, but in memory of his daughter,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Ian was determined to continue fighting for benefits for students like her.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12She was very adamant before she passed away, that we continued with this.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16There were times during the illness when I almost gave up.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22I was continually hitting brick walls and not getting anywhere.
0:17:22 > 0:17:28There were times, dealing with Mel as ill as she was, and also fighting the Government at the same time.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33It took a lot, but the current system was wrong and that, coupled with
0:17:33 > 0:17:37Mel's desire to get it sorted, that's what made me fight and continue.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44So in honour of Mel's life, courage and fighting spirit, Ian worked tirelessly to change the law.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51So it started with letters to your MP. At some point, they started to sit up and listen to you.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55I actually told them in the letters that I wasn't going to go away.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00My MP contacted a guy called James Plasket,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03the MP at the Department for Work and Pensions at the time.
0:18:03 > 0:18:09He, again, the reply initially wasn't a favourable one,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11but we kept going back to him.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15I started copying him into letters that I was sending to my MP.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19He began to listen and really when he started listening, with him being at
0:18:19 > 0:18:24the Department for Work and Pensions, that's when things started to change.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28And that wasn't the only thing that started to change.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32Losing his eldest daughter made Ian re-evaluate his life.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35He had spent almost ten years working as an administrator
0:18:35 > 0:18:39for Staffordshire Police, and he decided it was time to move on.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43I've recently changed my job.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48I work for the Lymphoma Association, which is something that
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I would never have done had it not been for Mel's illness.
0:18:51 > 0:18:58Mel used to go on the chat-room on the internet and talk to other people who'd been affected.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02She also contacted the helpline as well, and they're just a great help
0:19:02 > 0:19:08and were a support to Mel, and they've been a great support to ourselves since Mel died.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13- You're now working with them full-time, so you're part of that support group.- Yes, it's good.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16And that's not where the changes end.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19I started doing a couple of these charity rides a year.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23I'm not a particularly keen cyclist, but it's something that I can do.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28I can't run marathons, unfortunately, but I can cycle. So that's what I do.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32And it's something that Ian does extremely well.
0:19:32 > 0:19:39He has cycled 600 miles for charity and helped raise over £13,000 through bike rides
0:19:39 > 0:19:44and other fundraising activities, but much more importantly, he's helped change the law.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52I caught up with him to hear all about it.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55So Ian, finally, you're a man with something to smile about?
0:19:55 > 0:20:02Yeah, certainly. We've had news from the Government that they're making the changes, and it's very positive.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07Basically now any student who falls ill with a long-term illness, not just cancer,
0:20:07 > 0:20:13but any long-term illness, and they have to suspend their studies for a time, they will get benefits.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16And that's nationwide now. You've changed that law.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21- You must be an extremely proud man? - You don't think, "I'm changing the law."
0:20:21 > 0:20:27You just think, "This is wrong," you have to do what you can to put it right.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32Thankfully, through dogged persistence and emails,
0:20:32 > 0:20:33we've done it. Yeah.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37- Do you think Mel would be proud? - Yeah, I do, I'd like to think so.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41- What would she say to you now if she could?- She'd probably say Liverpool will finish higher
0:20:41 > 0:20:46than Everton in the league this season and then she'd probably say "Well done, Dad, we did it."
0:20:46 > 0:20:50- Yeah. And what would you say to her? - Yeah, you're probably right!
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Ian has experienced something that no parent ever should, the loss of
0:20:59 > 0:21:03a child, but he's channelled all his grief into something really
0:21:03 > 0:21:07positive and he's made changes now that will affect hundreds of families in this country.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12He's shown no signs of slowing down and for one, I hope he never does.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21Over in Croydon, the council's fraud team and the UK Border Agency
0:21:21 > 0:21:24are hot on the trail of Juliet Ubiribo.
0:21:24 > 0:21:31Her housing benefits worth thousands of pounds have been paid directly to her landlord, Mr Neburagho.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36But documents accidentally left in the shed when she moved house revealed a secret.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Her landlord might be her husband, Mr Mayomi.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45There were false statements, double identities and immigration issues involved.
0:21:45 > 0:21:52This couple had to be stopped and financial investigator Zoe was well on the case.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57January 2010, we had meetings with the police and the UKBA, and we decided the offences were
0:21:57 > 0:22:03sufficiently serious enough for us to take this further, and to visit the house and the business property
0:22:03 > 0:22:07at the same time and to arrest both Ubiribo and Mayomi.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22We searched the home address in January 2010
0:22:22 > 0:22:25and this is some of what we found.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Photocopy of Mayomi's Nigerian passport.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Three of Ubiribo's passports.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36A copy of their wedding certificate in Nigeria.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40We found immigration applications,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44copies of documentation relating to the business.
0:22:44 > 0:22:50We've also found a wedding DVD of a marriage blessing that they had in 2006, which was interesting because
0:22:50 > 0:22:55at that time she was claiming benefit on the basis she was an unmarried single parent.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59- I, Juliet...- I, Juliet... - Give you, Nelson, this ring...
0:22:59 > 0:23:02- Give you, Nelson, this ring... - As a sign of our marriage.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04- As a sign of our marriage. - With my body, I honour you.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07- With my body, I honour you. - All that I have, I give to you.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11- All that I have, I give to you.- And all that I have I share with you.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12And all that I have I share with you.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17They had the evidence, now they had to arrest the couple.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23Mr Mayomi wasn't at the house when they started their search, but then their fortunes changed.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29A man arrived at the property. He identified himself to the police and to the UKBA as being Mr Mayomi.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32He was arrested and taken to Croydon Police Station.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37He was asked if he'd ever been in trouble with the police before, and he said no.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40And he was telling the truth. No-one with the name of Mr Mayomi had
0:23:40 > 0:23:45ever been in trouble with the law, but his alias, Mr Neburagho HAD.
0:23:45 > 0:23:51We were aware that possibly he'd already been arrested for drunk driving in the identity of Neburagho.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56When they matched the fingerprints they realised yes, he had been arrested as Neburagho,
0:23:56 > 0:24:02and we believe that is possibly why he admitted in interview that he was Mr Neburagho, but also Mr Mayomi.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08So, the game was finally up for Mr Mayomi and his alias, Mr Neburagho.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13The photos may not be identical, but the matching fingerprints removed all doubt.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17He WAS Juliet's husband and her landlord.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23This confirmed our suspicion that he was the same person, but with two identities.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28And Nelson Mayomi had used his second identity to enter the UK illegally.
0:24:28 > 0:24:34On the visa application for his visa he said he'd never been in the UK before, but once we found out
0:24:34 > 0:24:38the name Neburagho and that there was a British passport, and all of the other evidence
0:24:38 > 0:24:42- shows to the fact that he'd been here since the early 90s. - So, Mr Mayomi was arrested.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45One criminal down, one to go.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51Juliet Ubiribo was arrested on the same day, also questioned at Croydon Police Station.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53She has made false statements claiming to be a single parent,
0:24:53 > 0:24:59whereas in reality she was married, she was also married to her landlord which affected her housing benefit
0:24:59 > 0:25:05and both Neburagho and Ubiribo have both provided false statements to the council in the way of letters
0:25:05 > 0:25:11and documents purporting that they are both separate, that they're not related and that he is her landlord.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16Juliet Ubiribo and her husband Nelson Mayomi eventually pleaded
0:25:16 > 0:25:19guilty to all the offences they had been charged with,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22including benefit fraud and immigration offences.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31On 13th August 2010 at Croydon Crown Court, they were told they'd have to repay...
0:25:38 > 0:25:41..and THEN they were sentenced.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Mr Mayomi has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54His offences were described by the judge as "cynical, self-centred and self-serving."
0:25:56 > 0:26:02Juliet Ubiribo's been sentenced to 18 months in prison, but suspended for two years.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06However, she also has to do 200 hours of community work, that's unpaid work.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11She's also been tagged which means for four months between the hours of
0:26:11 > 0:26:159pm to 6am she has to stay at home and cannot leave the home premises.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18She has been warned if she breaks the condition
0:26:18 > 0:26:21of her sentence, she will be back in court and will go to prison.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25And it doesn't end there, the UK Border Agency will seek
0:26:25 > 0:26:30to remove Mr Mayomi from the country and Zoe's going after the assets.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34I'm developing the case further, under the Proceeds of Crime Act
0:26:34 > 0:26:38to ensure that they have not benefited from their criminal behaviour.
0:26:38 > 0:26:44This will mean eventually they'll have to repay more than the housing benefit overpayment.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49They had scammed over £40,000 of taxpayer's money and probably
0:26:49 > 0:26:53would have got away with it if it wasn't for that mislaid suitcase.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57That one piece of lost luggage cost them big time.
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0:27:24 > 0:27:27E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk