Austin/ Woods Saints and Scroungers

Saints and Scroungers puts the spotlight on benefit thieves-

those who ruthlessly steal millions of pounds from the British taxpayer -

but we also search out the Saints,

the people who help put unclaimed cash into the hands of those that really deserve it.

Saints and Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves, who steal millions every year,

and the crack team of investigators,

determined to scupper their devious scams.

And we also shine a light on those who genuinely need the money,

and the people who help them get it.

They are our Saints.

The Saints get help and the fraudsters get their come-uppance.

Coming up on today's show.

How a married woman pretended to be single

to swindle over £140,000 out of the benefits system.

Mrs Austin completed eight claim forms.

In each of the claim forms she declared she was a lone parent,

with two children, and had no other means of support herself.

And we have the Saints.

The cost of a life-changing wheelchair for a daughter proves a challenge for her parents.

For the future I would like to move out of home

and build a life for myself.

Hopefully get a job, and live as independently as possible.

You're a single mum living with kids. That's tough at the best of times,

but that's why the benefit system is there, to give you a helping hand.

But if you have a husband who's bringing home the bacon,

should you be dipping your hand into the taxpayers' pot?

On the edge of East London, Samantha Austin, a 37-year-old mother,

claimed to be a single parent living on the breadline.

But Mrs Austin may be nowhere near as needy as she seemed.

She's suspected of defrauding the London Borough of Havering

out of £141,000, the biggest benefit scam in the council's history.

Chris Henry is the manager in charge of benefits.

'I've come to meet her and get the low-down on this shocking case.'

Good to meet you. Tell me a little bit about Havering.

A lot of people think it's in Essex, but you're a London borough, aren't you?

Yes, that's right. It's the second largest London borough,

and it comprises 234,000 people.

Of those people, how many are on benefits of one kind or another?

Just under 21,000.

-What does that cost the council each year?

-About 100 million.

Wherever you get money in benefits, you'll get scroungers and cheats.

How much is being fiddled each year?

Last year we recouped nearly £1 million of fraudulent overpayment,

and we've still got about £100,000 of that to collect.

It's up to the council's fraud team

to track down the guilty culprits and bring them to justice.

In 2008, following a tip-off,

they began looking into the case of Samantha Austin.

This investigator needs to keep her identity secret,

due to the sensitive nature of her work.

Work and Pensions received an anonymous phone call,

suggesting that Samantha Austin,

who was claiming as a lone person, with two children,

and her partner, who was working full-time,

was actually living with her.

The department made some initial inquiries on their systems,

and staff established Samantha Austin

was in receipt of Income Support as a lone person.

There was a housing and council tax benefit interest,

so they contacted the London Borough of Havering,

to invite them in for a joint investigation.

As a single mum, with no income,

she was claiming nearly £300 a week

in housing and council tax benefit and Income Support.

But as the wife of a man in full-time employment,

she would not be eligible.

The investigators' first step was to check the history

of any benefit claims made by Samantha Austin to Havering Council.

We made our own initial enquiries, and established that

Mrs Austin had been in receipt of housing and council tax benefit

as a lone parent with two children since at least 1996.

If this was fraud, it had been going on for 13 years.

This was a potentially massive case.

What the team needed to prove

was Samantha Austin had lied on her claim forms.

Was she really a lone parent, relying on benefit?

Or was she a married woman, supported by her husband, brazenly cheating the system?

They began examining her story.

In one of Mrs Austin's earlier claim forms,

she has declared that her husband was in prison,

and that she had currently separated from him.

She stated also she wasn't sure when he was going to return.

Council records showed that the benefit department had written

to Samantha in 1999, to check if her circumstances had changed.

Were she and her husband still separated,

or were they now living together?

Samantha Austin wrote back, saying (BLEEP) Austin was in prison,

and she didn't know whether he was going to move back in,

and that his mail was being forwarded to his parents' address.

Samantha told the council she was single,

and didn't once mention her husband on any paperwork.

Mrs Austin completed eight claim forms,

and in each she declared she was a lone parent, with two children,

and had no other means to support herself.

Could she be telling the truth?

Could the anonymous caller have got it wrong?

The fraud team got to work, looking for evidence.

Samantha Austin declared to us on her application form for benefit

she lived at Saddleworth Square in a property behind us,

so the London Borough of Havering was able to look at the tenancy agreement,

and from there we found (BLEEP) Austin's name was on the tenancy agreement.

That told us he was jointly liable for the rent.

So they were joint council tenants.

But the investigators needed more proof that Mr and Mrs Austin were still a couple.

While we were making inquiries, we noticed that Mrs Austin declared

she had two children on her claim,

and they were both born after 1996.

So birth certificates were obtained, and on the birth certificates

Mr Austin was declared as the father,

and that he put his address down

as the same as Mrs Austin's claim address.

So in the period she's claiming to be separated from her husband,

Samantha Austin has had not one but two children by him,

and he's listed as living at her address.

Single mum? Samantha?

Pull the other one, it's got bells on it!

The birth certificates proved that Samantha had lied about her circumstances.

But the investigation team wanted more up-to-date information.

We contacted the Pupil Services,

which is where children register for their school.

That established that Mr and Mrs Austin were declared as both the children's next of kin,

and they both had the same contact numbers and address.

The evidence against her was mounting up,

and Samantha's story was looking decidedly shaky.

But if they were going to accuse her of fraud,

the council needed to know if her husband was supporting her financially.

Still to come -

the investigators discover a joint bank account.

The area where the withdrawals were being made

was the Harold Hill area, where Samantha Austin lived.

But would it be the proof they needed

to bring the suspected scrounger to justice?

Later on, this conman was filmed busily washing his car -

but on his benefit form,

he claimed he needed help just to get up in the morning.

He told us he was virtually unable to use his hands

and needed help with preparing a meal, washing and dressing.

For now, it's farewell to the fraudsters

and hello to the people we call our Saints, those who are in genuine need of help but are too proud,

or don't know how to claim what is rightfully theirs,

and the people who point them in the right direction.

Most of us take for granted the simple things in life,

but imagine if your children were born with such severe disabilities

that even walking and talking was impossible.

Wouldn't you want to do everything within your power

to make their lives as happy as you could?

18-year-old Tayla was born with a debilitating muscle condition.

COMPUTERISED VOICE: What frustrates me the most about my condition

is that my body just doesn't do what I tell it to do.

Her 16-year-old brother Jordan

also suffers from the same chronic disability.

Their parents, Debbie and Chris,

knew that they were going to need help, but they had no idea

how much and what impact it would have on their lives.

Debbie gave birth to Tayla after a happy and normal pregnancy,

but it wasn't long before she started to worry

that there was something wrong with her daughter.

It first became apparent to me that Tayla had some issues

when she was about 15 months.

She started walking about 13 months,

but they're very doddery at first, toddlers,

and it really became apparent to me

that she was different from her peers

when she started attending a toddler group.

She was trying to stand up and make those first steps,

as any normal child would, and she kept falling over,

kept falling over and kept falling over.

At first, we thought it was just growing pains,

but after weeks and months,

we decided that it, er, it perhaps wasn't.

They arranged to see a child development doctor

to discuss their worries.

Never having had a child before,

I didn't have the expertise to know for sure whether her differences

were within normal parameters, it just looked different to me

and just felt different.

My instinct told me that there was something wrong.

She told me that I was paranoid

and that Tayla was just walking a bit differently

from the other children but not to worry about it.

But when their son Jordan was born just a few weeks later,

a health visitor spotted that Tayla wasn't walking normally.

Tayla was falling and doing...walking badly,

as she did, missing...just about missing doorframes and fireplaces.

She turned to me and she said to me, "That's not right."

And I said, "This is what I've been trying to explain.

"This is what she does, this is the problem."

So she said, "You need to go back to the child development doctor,"

and I wouldn't, so I went and saw my GP,

who was brilliant, and she referred me to the paediatrician.

When Tayla was 21 months old,

doctors thought they'd found out what was wrong with her.

She was diagnosed originally with cerebral palsy.

Jordan was a baby, he was literally three weeks old at this point.

We started seeing physios.

But then at eight months,

Jordan started showing similar symptoms to his sister.

He wasn't hitting milestones,

he wasn't achieving what they would expect at that age,

and it was at that point they realised

we didn't have cerebral palsy and we are still undiagnosed to this day.

The process of understanding what Tayla had was never a shock.

It was never a shock to myself or Deborah

and we kept our heads above water and just really...

"OK, let's deal with it, get on with it."

No-one knew how it was going to develop,

cos we didn't know what we'd got, erm,

and we basically worked our way through various teams of doctors

that specialised in various conditions.

Their condition is purely muscle weakness

and it affects all muscle groups,

muscle groups associated with speech and movement.

So, you know, the children now don't talk.

Tayla needed a wheelchair by the time she was ten and Jordan,

whose condition is more severe, from just three years old.

The condition has had a huge impact on their everyday life.

Jordan's posture affected his breathing and eating.

Tayla has some issues with swallowing, er, closing her mouth.

Their brains are completely normal and active

but they have communication issues and Jordan writes using software

and a head switch because, over the years,

he's lost the control of his hands

and Tayla has to wear a night splint

to keep the mobility in her hands

so that she's able to still write and type.

'Dealing with her children's disabilities

'must have been a massive challenge.

'I've come to meet Debbie to find out how she's coped.'

-Hello, Debbie.

-Hello, Dom.

-Good to meet you.

-And you.

-What a beautiful place you've got here!

-Thank you!

'Debbie was forced to give up her job and work part-time for the family business

'so that she could fit her hours around the children

'and the family moved to a house on one level to give their kids as much freedom as possible.'

The children were getting to the point where they were harder to carry upstairs

and they needed to be able to get into their rooms to play.

We moved here when Tayla was six years old.

We knew there were going to have to be adaptations to make.

We actually had to knock a big bathroom together

into another room, put a bigger bedroom on for Jordan

so that we could hoist him from his bed into the bathroom.

'But making sure Tayla and Jordan get the most out of life hasn't been cheap.'

Everything to do with anyone with special needs carries a premium, doesn't it?

It's all got three zeros at the end, is my favourite saying!

Everything with the kids seems to have three zeros at the end.

You're going to pay through the nose, aren't you?

It's expensive, it's expensive being disabled

and getting the equipment you need and running it.

'From car adaptations to ramps to computers, it all costs money,

'and with two disabled children, every expense is doubled.'

At one point,

the communication aids that the children had were £2,500 each.

Jordan needs a new communication aid at this point

and the base equipment for that is £4,500

and then you have to maintain these pieces of equipment.

When they go wrong, it's £500 here and there,

the warranties for the wheelchairs cost £300-500, the services,

it's like servicing a car.

It was a financial strain as well as a physical strain.

It always has been.

If money's tight, you can't say, "Well, OK, we'll downsize

"on the car and have a little run-around for a few months."

-You can't do that.

-You need a big car.

You can't sort of say, "We'll go and live in a flat."

You can't do that, you need space.

I know this looks nice, but it's all done, really, to house the kids.

Everything's been pushed to the limit.

'Life is hugely expensive for the Woods.

'They've poured money into giving their children

'the best family life possible but they need a helping hand.

'Tayla and Jordan both receive Disability Living Allowance and, as young children,

'the National Health Service paid a large percentage

'of the most expensive equipment - their powered wheelchairs.'

They come and assess the children

and then they assess their basic minimum needs,

so you can get a powered wheelchair with a seat on it,

a plain seat that you and I could sit in.

A basic...?

A basic seat, but the children have additional needs

and they can't just sit in a standard seat

on a standard cushion, it wouldn't support them,

they would fall to one side, etc.

So it's those extra bits of equipment

that you can't always get the funding for.

The basic ones you would get free of charge, yep?

Through the Wheelchair Service, so if you want anything above that...

-You've gotta pay.

-You've got to pay or you've got to find a way of funding it.

'Debbie and Chris managed to find the money for the extras,

'and with some additional help from children's charity the Whizz-Kidz,

'both Jordan and Tayla got the wheelchairs they needed.

'But a few years later, they faced the problem all over again.'

Jordan's spine collapsed

and he had a full spinal fusion a couple of years ago

and he grew over six inches overnight

when they straightened him out.

And unfortunately he changed quite significantly

so that he no longer fitted his chair.

'It couldn't have come at a worse time financially.

'Debbie and Chris had separated

'and were now having to pay for two homes.

Debbie had left the family business and was retraining for a new career.

We'd been very lucky over the years in that

me and Deborah worked very hard and we were able to buy

a house that we felt could be adapted for the children.

But there are some things that are just out of reach

and instantly have got to be got and you've got to

find between 10 and 15,000 and that just can't be done.

Your instinct is not to ask for help but you just can't fund everything.

Jordan's last chair cost close to £13,000.

-That's dearer than a car.

-It is dearer than a car.

It's nearly as expensive to run as a car as well.

Knowing that the NHS Wheelchair Service would only contribute some

of the money, they had to find some way of paying the rest.

She turned to a number of charities including Caudwell Children.

They had funded a number of football chairs for children

within our powerchair football club.

And they came to a competition and were handing out leaflets.

Set up by businessman John Caudwell 11 years ago, the charity

helps pay for specialist equipment and treatment for sick

and disabled children across the UK.

Any child that has a chronic illness or disability can actually

be helped by the charity providing they were within the criteria.

The household income, excluding any benefits

they may receive, has to be under £45,000.

They were delighted when Caudwell and other charities

they approached agreed to pay for the new wheelchair but no sooner had they

solved Jordan's needs than Tayla presented them with a new challenge.

When she did her GCSEs, she was actually assessed by the

Wheelchair Service as needing some adaptations to that wheelchair.

To enable access to, um,

equipment that was higher that she couldn't reach.

Um, but unfortunately, Wheelchair Service weren't able to help us

with this equipment.

At 16, Tayla left school and enrolled at a specialist residential

college to further her studies and learn to do more for herself.

Ann Isemonger is the senior occupational therapist

and teaches the students life skills.

Might be making their breakfast, it may be getting themselves dressed.

It may be finding their way to the shops and back, catching buses.

Anything that's going to prepare them to be independent when they leave.

But her old wheelchair was holding her back.

She had it when she was at school. She's now in her last year at college

so Tayla has changed a lot in that time and what

she had it for then was basically for mobility and posture needs.

She now needs it for more accessibility which the chair

doesn't offer her.

I can't reach things in shops, on high shelves

and I'm shy about asking strangers for help.

It's highlighted a number of different needs for her.

As life moves on, you suddenly see

the shortcomings of the equipment you've got.

Now she's becoming more independent is,

she really needs a chair that's got a riser and that

literally is a chair which the seat will move up so she comes at eye level.

That's nice so that she could talk to you or I standing up.

Now this new chair, I know it's going to be expensive, how much?

Over £6,000.

Wow.

Debbie was determined that Tayla, just like Jordan, would have the chair she needed

and there was only one way she could make it happen.

Tayla desperately needed a new wheelchair

and there just isn't the funds available.

It's like funding another car.

Caudwell were my first port of call to see

whether they could actually help us fund the chair.

We will get probably between 30 and 40 applications a week.

The range that we cover can be from power chairs,

therapies under the UK autism scheme,

sensory equipment, it could be for therapy tricycles,

for very specialised buggies. So a very, very wide range.

But what the Wood family didn't know

was whether Tayla's application would get the green light.

We try to help everybody

but obviously on occasions families don't meet the criteria for what we do

so unfortunately we have to say no to those.

Later in the programme, would Caudwell Children be the saints

Tayla needed to help her achieve her goals?

For the future, I would like to move out of home

and build a life for myself.

Hopefully get a job and live as independently as possible.

But first, we revisit the devious world of the scrounger.

And here's a message to those benefit thieves out there -

smile, you're on camera.

They think they're clever, they think they can beat the system,

but every year, thousands of benefit cheats get put under surveillance.

Welcome to the undercover world of benefit fraud investigators

and the cheats they love to catch out.

Now, I've got to admit, when it comes to cleaning the car,

I'm a little bit on the lazy side.

I'd rather go to the car wash than roll my sleeves up and do it myself.

Not like this bloke, though.

I mean, he's doing a smashing job scrubbing and cleaning.

In fact, I'd probably even let him clean my car,

which is strange, though.

You see, Christopher Parker claimed that he had

such severe problems with his hands that he needed round-the-clock care.

In his claim form, he told us

he was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, which meant that

he wasn't able to walk very far without any great discomfort

and that he was virtually unable to use his hands

and needed help with preparing a meal, washing and dressing.

In 2005, Christopher was awarded disability living allowance

at the highest rate for care and at the lower rate for mobility.

Disability living allowance is meant for those people

who need help with their day-to-day lives,

in particular people who have difficulty getting around.

People may need help with preparing a meal, washing or dressing,

if they have difficulty using their hands or difficulty standing.

The benefit is designed to help people

and we make an award based on the severity of someone's disability.

But then, the Department for Work and Pensions got a call

to say that Parker was spinning them a yarn.

We received an anonymous tip-off,

through our National Benefit Fraud Hotline,

that he'd overstated his condition in order to claim

disability living allowance and, in fact,

he wasn't as disabled as he purported to be.

Investigators decided it was time to spy on this suspected cheat.

We conducted surveillance on Mr Parker and had

some footage of him walking normally and carrying out duties

which involved him using his hands all the time and betraying

no symptoms of what he'd told the department he suffered from.

We asked our doctor to see if he could spot any signs

of the severe disabilities Parker had claimed.

Rheumatoid arthritis is what's called an autoimmune disease,

where the body produces antibodies against its own tissues.

In this case, it's the joint tissues which are affected,

which can lead to breakdown of the cartilage

in the joints, of any joint in the body,

often starts in the hands, but it can occur anywhere.

The joints become disrupted,

they become painful, swollen and inflamed. This is Mr Parker.

He's bending down quite a long way now, there doesn't seem

to be any impairment of his ability to walk around the car or move.

If he's claiming lots of problems with his hands,

so he can't care for himself, I wouldn't expect

somebody to be able to, you know, hold a hosepipe

and to clean their car in the way that he's doing.

He's now hosing down some...material -

I can't quite tell what - and wringing it out.

Wringing something out does require

quite a bit of manoeuvrability of your hands.

If you had painful joints in your hands, you wouldn't be able to,

but he seems to be doing everything normally.

So, he'd been caught on camera happily washing his car,

despite claiming that he was severely disabled, but get this!

The team then discovered that Christopher Parker,

who claimed he even needed help washing and dressing himself,

was actually working as a security guard in the airport.

We then contacted his employer,

got a copy of his application form that he'd filled in

to apply for a job as a security guard at the airport.

In that claim form, there's a specific question

which asks the applicant whether they have any disability

and he had told them he had no disability at all.

It was time for a little chat.

We called Christopher Parker in for an interview. During that,

he accepted the footage of being able to do more than he'd stated.

He couldn't offer any explanation

as to why he put what he put on the employee's application form.

Parker paid back all the money he stole from the public purse

and, in December 2010, he appeared at Derby Magistrates' Court

and pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming £15,311 worth of benefit.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community order,

80 hours of unpaid work and was made to pay £100 costs.

The shocking thing about Christopher Parker's case is

he was sent renewal forms on a regular basis by the department

each time asking him whether there'd been any change

to his original claim form and his circumstances

and he told the department there had been no change

whilst all the while he'd been working in a physical occupation,

so it was quite clear he had set out to defraud the department.

Now, I'd say that's one security man caught well and truly off-guard.

Still to come, as the net tightens around suspected benefit thief,

Samantha Austin, she tells investigators they've got it wrong.

-She denied again that

-BLEEP

-Austin was living at the property.

What she did say was that

he came on the weekends to visit and he slept on the couch.

Tayla and her brother Jordan

were both born with a severely disabling muscle condition.

It affects all aspects of their lives

and means they are unable to walk or even talk.

Their parents, Debbie and Chris, have worked hard to give them

as much as possible, including a specially adapted family home.

But when Tayla needed a new powered wheelchair, the money wasn't there

and they turned to charity Caudwell Children to ask for help.

The charity pays for life-changing equipment

and therapy for sick and disabled children all over the UK.

But with up to 40 applications a week, Debbie wasn't sure

if Tayla would be one of the lucky ones.

We try to help everybody, but obviously, on occasions,

families don't meet the criteria for what we do, so, unfortunately,

we have to say no to those

and the unique thing with our charity is that,

for those that we do agree to make awards to,

we don't have a waiting list, so they get what they need fairly quickly.

Debbie didn't have to wait long for an answer.

They offered us 80% of the money for Tayla's chair,

which was amazing, and then it was looking to find someone else

that would fund the difference.

Jan at Caudwell Children advised her just where to go.

I asked her if she had spoken to Wheelchair Services

to look at the option there of having a wheelchair voucher.

The wheelchair vouchers are a form of benefit

paid by the National Health Service. It will only provide basic chairs,

but will help towards the payment of a more specialist machine.

We spent about 10 or 15 minutes going through what was entailed,

who she'd need to speak to, how she'd have to go about getting there.

I had assumed the Wheelchair Service couldn't help us,

but they were brilliant. They actually came out, assessed Tayla,

and said they would be very happy to fund what they would consider

a normal base chair, so Wheelchair Service have provided

the funds which make up the difference and will allow us to

pay for the maintenance of that chair for about a year.

'So, with private funding from Caudwell Children,

'and public money from the National Health Service,

'the cost of Tayla's chair had been covered.'

-That's worked out rather well, hasn't it?

-It has.

-How do you feel?

-Relieved.

It's such a brilliant envelope to get, to open it and go,

"Yes, it's going to happen, she's going to get the chair she needs."

-When that envelope arrived...

-Yeah.

-..what did you do?

-I ran into Tayla.

Right, and what did you say?

-I said, "You're getting your new chair."

-And what did she do?

She squeaked. Tayla squeaks.

-A happy squeak?

-A happy squeak, yeah.

We're absolutely thrilled that Caudwell have come in and, er,

offered to support us financially to get Tayla the chair,

to give her a new lease of life

and give her a lot more scope with her future years.

It will enable Tayla to do many more things independently, er,

she will have independent access where she's currently limited,

so, hopefully, it should open up a whole new chapter of her life.

Three months later, her new wheelchair

was delivered to Tayla at college and she couldn't wait to try it out.

'I am really enjoying the independence

'and being able to interact with people at eye level,

'rather than people looking down on me.'

As well as being able to go up and down,

it works for longer without being charged, goes faster

and can be turned around in a smaller space,

all making life that little bit easier for Tayla.

'The new chair is going to make it easier for me

'to access public transport and get around more on my own if I want to.

'It will be nice not to have to rely on other people all of the time.'

'Independence for Tayla is very, very important.'

And if a simple thing like going into the supermarket and buying something,

and knowing she can get it off a shelf if she wants it,

not having to ask somebody, will make a massive difference to her.

Because she also has reduced limb function and grip strength,

she can actually reach things without having to lift her arms very far.

She can raise the chair up to the level she wants.

What's so important for Tayla is,

it will give her the chance to do what she wants, when she wants.

Tayla is very conscious of her appearance.

She wants to be able to take herself to the hairdresser

and be treated just like everybody else.

The chair can raise up and tip back

and she can actually access the basin.

Now in her final year,

Tayla is starting to plan for life beyond college.

For the future, I would like to move out of home

and build a life for myself.

Hopefully get a job and live as independently as possible.

Caudwell Children have been amazing.

I cannot thank them enough for their help.

Without them, I wouldn't have a chair I really needed.

It has taken a lot of hard work for those saints at Caudwell Children

but now Tayla's got that brand new chair,

I have a funny feeling with all that new-found conference and freedom,

there is going to be no stopping her.

Now it's back to the world of those who abuse the benefits system.

The fraud team at Havering Council

were on the trail of suspected scrounger Samantha Austin.

An anonymous caller tipped off the Department for Work and Pensions

that Samantha was claiming benefits as a single mother

but was actually living with her husband who had a full-time job.

The investigators got to work.

We looked at our records

and found that Samantha Austin had been claiming housing accounts and tax benefits since 1996.

She'd renewed her claim several times,

each time saying she was a single claimant in receipt of income support.

Samantha told the council she'd separated from her husband in 1996

but records show they'd shared the tenancy on their house.

Not just that, but she'd had two children during her 13-year claim period

and on the birth certificates, he was named as the father, living at the same address.

So, it looked like the Austins were still a couple.

But, was Mr Austin supporting his wife and children?

If so, not only had she lied on her forms

but she had claimed thousands that she wasn't entitled to.

The investigators now turned their attention to the couple's finances.

After gathering the credit check on Mr and Mrs Austin,

the bank account which came up on Mr Austin's name

also matched a bank account which was in Mrs Austin's name

so we established there was a joint account

which the London Borough of Havering and the Department of Work and Pensions were not made aware of.

The council got access to bank statements from the joint account

and made a very interesting discovery.

An engineering company was making regular payments into the account.

The bank statements showed payments were coming in from a company

so we checked with the Companies House website.

All limited companies in the UK are registered with Companies House

and have to submit their annual accounts.

The search of their records reveal not just how well businesses are doing

but who owns them.

It came up that Mr Austin was listed as a director

and also a shareholder with his parents.

Director of a company?

Probably got a few quid and if she's got a joint account with him,

I'm guessing she's not short of a bob or two either.

The search revealed that the firm was registered at...

you guessed it, Samantha's address.

Not only was it paying into her joint account,

but when they examined the bank statements,

it looked like she was helping herself to the cash as well.

The area where the withdrawals were being made

was the Harold Hill area where Samantha Austin lived.

At no point during the 13-year period did she tell us about the joint bank account

and the monies going through it.

Had she done so, it would have significantly reduced

or even nullified the amount of benefit that she received from the council.

She wouldn't have been entitled to any money in all likelihood.

So what happened when you called Samantha Austin in for an interview under caution?

Did she roll over, put her hands up and say, you've got me?

No, she was in complete denial.

When she was asked about the whereabouts of BLEEP Austin,

she said that he was not living with her

and she said he lived with his parents.

But you had evidence and you must have presented that to her?

Absolutely.

She looked at the evidence that we provided

and she denied again that Austin was living at the property.

What she did say was that he came on the weekends to visit

and he slept on the couch.

Samantha Austin said it suited her husband to carry on using her address.

Mrs Austin stated that he only uses it as a correspondence address

because he had bad credit and couldn't use his parents' address.

During the interview, Mrs Austin was asked,

that as she had been separated from her husband for over a decade,

why hadn't divorce proceedings been started.

She struggled to explain this

and after a while, she said that she had no reason

why she hadn't started divorce proceedings.

But what about those cash withdrawals from their joint account?

You had some pretty damning evidence in the form of accounts

and money being spent and things like that.

How was she justifying it?

She said that BLEEP Austin said she was only allowed to use the bank card she was given

for the joint bank account to purchase items for the children.

What was she buying?

Well, from the statements we have,

we can see she has made eight withdrawals from off-licences,

she's been spending money at the beauty salon.

Crikey, so you can't really deny that, can you?

Not really relevant at all to children's items.

She's lying?

Absolutely.

What happened when you told her that?

She basically denied it.

Some people are a bit daft, they don't think you can find out what they're spending money on,

it's almost like they're blind to facts.

Absolutely.

Because of the sheer weight of evidence that we had,

that was enough for us.

Convinced they had a case, there was just one more person

the investigation team wanted to hear from.

Before the file was passed for legal proceedings,

we did invite Mr Austin to attend an interview under caution.

Mr Austen confirmed that he had been using Mrs Austin's claim address for his post

and that he took out credit there because he was blacklisted at his parents.

Mr Austin's claim didn't make any sense to the investigators

because we know that although many years ago,

an address used to be blacklisted.

In recent years, it's the person.

So it didn't matter where he was living,

bad credit would have followed him.

Mr Austin also denied that he was supporting Samantha with his income.

He said he didn't give her any money

but allowed her to take money out of the joint account

as long as it was for the children only,

as he didn't want to feed her lifestyle.

The investigators were now confident

they had all the evidence they needed against Samantha Austin.

Because the circumstances hadn't really been explained

why Mr and Mrs Austin's lives were so entwined after all these years,

we passed the file on to our solicitors for legal advice.

They agreed that it was suitable for prosecution

and sent a summons out to her.

Tell me about the court case.

Samantha Austin was still pleading her innocence

right up until the day before the trial.

In September 2011, she appeared at Basildon Crown Court.

Samantha Austin was charged with two counts of fraud

for housing and council tax benefit.

Over 13 years, Samantha Austin had defrauded Havering Council

and the Department for Work and Pensions

out of £35,000 of housing benefit,

£7,000 of council tax benefit

and £99,000 of income support.

She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

No charges were ever brought against her husband.

Now that seems like a very long stretch for somebody,

especially a mother with children.

Why do you think the judge delivered such a hard sentence?

The period of criminality was so long, 13 years,

the judge was obviously satisfied that BLEEP Austin was on the scene

and could look after the children and therefore,

in my opinion, quite rightly, sentenced her to 16 months.

It's the largest amount of benefit

that's been defrauded from the London Borough of Havering.

I've been in benefits for 20 years now

and this is the biggest scam that I have seen.

£141,000 is a huge sum of money.

-Will you get it back?

-Absolutely.

As soon as she comes out of prison,

we will be making demands for her to pay that money.

.

From an investigator's point of view, this is a good outcome for the courts

and Havering Council are not taking this lightly.

A prison sentence is the only suitable way to deal with someone

who can steal from the taxpayer's pocket.

This dishonest scrounger took money from the public purse

that she wasn't entitled to.

Money that should have gone to the vulnerable and needy.

But thanks to the efforts of fraud investigators,

her 13-year scam is now over.

She's behind bars

and on top of that, she'll have to pay back every penny she stole.

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