0:00:02 > 0:00:05Billions of pounds of our taxes should be going to the people
0:00:05 > 0:00:10that really need it, but the trouble is, people keep stealing it.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13Welcome to the world of Saints and Scroungers.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Saints and Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves
0:00:39 > 0:00:43who steal millions every year, and the crack team of investigators
0:00:43 > 0:00:46determined to scupper their devious scams.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51And we also shine a light on those who genuinely need the money
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and the people who help them get it. They are our saints.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58The saints get help and the fraudsters get their comeuppance!
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Coming up on today's show -
0:01:00 > 0:01:05the single mother on benefits with expensive taste in motors.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09- What car are we talking about?- It was an Audi.- What sort?- An Audi TT.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12But with fraud investigators in the driving seat,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15will her claims come crashing down?
0:01:15 > 0:01:19She'd actually told the letting agent that she was employed
0:01:19 > 0:01:21as a model, earning £25,000 a year.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26One family's tragic experience with epilepsy.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30I was told that it would not be advisable for her to be left alone
0:01:30 > 0:01:31with a child now.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Will a saint be able to supply some much needed support?
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Living on your own with kids is going to be tough
0:01:40 > 0:01:42at the best of times,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46and that's where benefits can really offer you a helping hand.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49But if you can afford a fancy convertible like this,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53do you really deserve government handouts?
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Claire Evans is a 32-year-old mother-of-two from Bristol.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00As she doesn't work, she claims Jobseekers Allowance
0:02:00 > 0:02:04from the Department for Work and Pensions, and receives housing
0:02:04 > 0:02:08and council tax benefit from South Gloucestershire Council.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Which means Claire and her kids shouldn't suffer undue hardship,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15but the council have started to suspect that Claire Evans
0:02:15 > 0:02:18might have more money than she's letting on.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21In fact, they think she may have claimed more than £62,000
0:02:21 > 0:02:24in benefits she isn't entitled to.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Every council has a fraud investigations unit
0:02:27 > 0:02:31whose job it is to track down benefit cheats.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34The crack team at South Gloucestershire Council
0:02:34 > 0:02:36is led by Jude Bevan.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Tell me about South Gloucestershire.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41South Gloucestershire, we have an area with about 250,000 residents
0:02:41 > 0:02:44and about 109,000 properties.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47We have both urban and rural areas.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49And of those residents, how many of them are on benefits?
0:02:49 > 0:02:54We are round about 16,700 individual claimants at the moment.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Every council has a fraud department that tries to reclaim money
0:02:57 > 0:03:00that shouldn't be claimed in the first place.
0:03:00 > 0:03:01How much did you get last year?
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Last year, including other DWP benefits,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05it was around about £500,000.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08- Half a million pounds?- Yes. - Lot of dough!- It is a lot.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Was that an increase on the year before?
0:03:10 > 0:03:15- It increases every year. - They do a good job, then? - They do an incredibly good job.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21Claire Evans first came to the attention of Jude's fraud team in 2009.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25She had been claiming benefits with no questions asked,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28but officers from South Gloucestershire Council
0:03:28 > 0:03:31decided to pay her an unannounced visit.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33All councils do this from time to time.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Why do you do these visits?
0:03:35 > 0:03:38We want to ensure that people are claiming the correct amount
0:03:38 > 0:03:41of benefits, so we will review X percentage of claims
0:03:41 > 0:03:43to ensure that the details we hold are correct.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48There's two elements to these visits, isn't there? You're catching people who shouldn't be claiming,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51- but there's people who aren't claiming enough.- Exactly.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54It's like a benefit health check to ensure that people
0:03:54 > 0:03:57are claiming enough benefits that they're entitled to,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00or they may overlook telling us about changed circumstances
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and it gives them an opportunity to do that.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07The council didn't initially think there was anything suspect about Claire's claim,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09but when they paid a visit to the home she was renting
0:04:09 > 0:04:14in 2010, someone else answered the door to say she had gone on holiday.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19- That triggers another unannounced visit?- Yes, we would undertake another unannounced visit,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23and on the second visit, Miss Evans wasn't there and neither was anybody else.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26The officers decide to make another visit,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29hoping it might be third time lucky.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32But once again, Claire Evans wasn't home.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Now, of course, at this point,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37she's registering that she's unemployed and a single mother.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39- Mm-hmm.- So you'd expect her to be at home.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43She might have been out shopping, but three times and she's not in?
0:04:43 > 0:04:45The beacon must flash at that point.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48The visiting officer did have heightened suspicion, yes.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53We call it a gut feeling. Every visiting officer has a gut feeling if something isn't quite correct.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56And it wasn't just the fact that Claire Evans seems never to be
0:04:56 > 0:04:58at home that was heightening suspicion.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01The lady herself might not have been around,
0:05:01 > 0:05:06but her car was generally parked outside the house.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10- What car are we talking about?- It was an Audi.- What sort?- An Audi TT.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13- Don't tell me convertible. - It was, yes.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Now that's new, that would cost someone about £30,000.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Not the sort of car you would expect somebody who's unemployed to own,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23but it could've belonged to someone else.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25It could've belonged to someone else, yes,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28but during the investigation the fraud team went out a number of times
0:05:28 > 0:05:30and the car was always there.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Officers had something of a mystery on their hands,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36so they decided to pass the case onto the council's senior
0:05:36 > 0:05:39fraud investigator, who needs to remain anonymous.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42The Benefits Department say to you that one of their claimants
0:05:42 > 0:05:44has got this expensive car in the driveway.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47How can you be sure that person actually owns that car?
0:05:47 > 0:05:51What we will do, and what we did in this case, is to drive by
0:05:51 > 0:05:53the address two or three times just to make sure the car
0:05:53 > 0:05:58is there all the time, so it's not a visitor's or somebody who has left it temporarily.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01- But that's still not concrete proof, is it?- No, no, not at all.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06Having established that we think it's probably there regularly, if not, permanently,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09we will then contact the DVLA and find out the registered keeper.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13- What came back, then? Show me.- What we've got here is, as you can see,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16- it says "Reply to DVLA Enquiry" at the top.- Yeah.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18And it shows that the car we're interested in,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22- the car we've seen at the address, is an Audi TT.- Yep.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26In white, and she only bought it in October 2010.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28- That's right.- Her name, her address, yeah.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32No previous keepers. So it was bought from brand new.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37So Claire Evans has a taste for very expensive wheels.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Nothing wrong with that, but how does a single mother,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44who's living on benefits, afford a jam jar of this calibre?
0:06:44 > 0:06:47She shouldn't have been able to afford that
0:06:47 > 0:06:49- if her claim had been genuine. - Correct.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52How can you find out how she's paying for it?
0:06:52 > 0:06:53We did a credit check.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58We have access here, online, to a credit reference agency
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and we can carry out a credit check.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Credit reference agencies are commercial companies
0:07:04 > 0:07:07which compile information about people's credit history.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10They get their information from sources including
0:07:10 > 0:07:12the electoral roll, county court judgements,
0:07:12 > 0:07:14and financial institutions.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Someone's credit history lists all their credit accounts,
0:07:17 > 0:07:18including their credit limit
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and whether they have missed any payments.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25It also records the name of their current account provider.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Lenders and other agencies can buy this information for a small fee.
0:07:29 > 0:07:35What this showed initially was that Claire had at least one large loan
0:07:35 > 0:07:36that she was servicing.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Claire Evans had borrowed a large sum of money, presumably,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44to pay for her car.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47But how does someone surviving on benefits manage to get
0:07:47 > 0:07:48such a large amount of credit?
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Investigators decided to get a full credit history
0:07:51 > 0:07:53going back several years,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56to see what else she might have been spending her cash on.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Is that the only car she's bought while on benefits?
0:07:59 > 0:08:02We found she'd bought two or three over the past four or five years.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05In actual fact, the details of one of them are here.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09As you can see, this one was purchased back in October 2005.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11It's got her name and address at the top there.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14It's an Audi TT Roadster again, erm,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17with 3600 miles on the clock at that time.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21- So, virtually new.- Indeed. And she paid £25,500 for it.
0:08:23 > 0:08:24Wow!
0:08:24 > 0:08:28This unemployed mum has spent over 50 grand on luxury cars
0:08:28 > 0:08:33in just five years, and the fraud investigators can smell a rat.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36- So what happened next? - We approached the bank,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39we identified five bank accounts that she held
0:08:39 > 0:08:43- and we got the details back from the bank, going back several years.- Yes.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48And that showed us that she'd had a large amount of unexplained
0:08:48 > 0:08:53deposits to one account in particular, over about four years.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55So a four year period, give or take,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and how much has she put in, in total?
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Well, in total, these payments,
0:08:59 > 0:09:02which exclude benefits payments I should point out, all of these
0:09:02 > 0:09:07are credits to her account that we don't know where they came from.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10And they total £65,626.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14'Investigators now knew something wasn't right.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Meanwhile, Claire Evans finally broke cover.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19She seemed to be avoiding investigators
0:09:19 > 0:09:23but, perhaps, she realised that sooner or later she was going
0:09:23 > 0:09:25to have to talk to them.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28She did contact the office when she didn't want a visit
0:09:28 > 0:09:31because she stated there had been a family bereavement,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34so the visiting officer then did make an appointment with her
0:09:34 > 0:09:37for a couple of weeks later, after the alleged family bereavement.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42The council finally got to talk to Claire Evans face-to-face.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45What happened when the visiting officer went?
0:09:45 > 0:09:47When she went round and undertook the visit,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49she did find Miss Evans to be quite nervous
0:09:49 > 0:09:53and didn't really want a visiting officer in the property.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57With 65 grand and a luxury car on her driveway,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00it's not surprising Claire Evans was feeling a bit nervous
0:10:00 > 0:10:02about a visit from fraud investigators.
0:10:02 > 0:10:07It was already obvious that something dodgy was going on with
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Claire Evans' benefits claim, and as we find out later,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12officers were even more puzzled about the source
0:10:12 > 0:10:15of the payments into her account.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18And you will see that a lot of these items are listed as foreign items,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20which didn't mean anything to us at the time.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24For now, it's farewell to the fraudsters
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and hello to the people we call our saints,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31those who are in genuine need of help, but are too proud,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34or don't know how to claim what is rightfully theirs.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37And the people who point them in the right direction.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44As newlyweds, it's tempting to start planning your future.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Trouble is, you can't always tell what's just around the corner.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Imagine experiencing the very best day of your life,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and then, the very worst day,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58all in the space of just two weeks.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02That's just what happened to Wayne and Michelle Lambert from Suffolk.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Like most first-time parents, they were over the moon
0:11:05 > 0:11:07when they had their baby boy, Jake.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09But just 11 days later,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Michelle suffered a life-threatening epileptic seizure.
0:11:12 > 0:11:13I came home,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and I opened the front door,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18and I could tell straight away she was in a fit.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23So, went into the front room, and saw Michelle on the sofa,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27in a full-blown fit, with Jake actually resting on her chest.
0:11:28 > 0:11:29He was sound asleep.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33I then picked him up, and put Jake into his car seat...
0:11:33 > 0:11:39and called for the ambulance, and got hold of Michelle's mum and dad,
0:11:39 > 0:11:40got hold of my mum.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45I raced up to the flat to be able to look after Jake.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49But...
0:11:49 > 0:11:52it was so quick, and so frightening.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55A few minutes later, the paramedics turned up, and that was it.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57We were straight off, up to the hospital.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Michelle recovered, but suffering the epileptic seizure was a double blow.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05She sustained some minor damage to her brain,
0:12:05 > 0:12:10but being in hospital for ten days meant she had to be separated from her newborn baby.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15It affected her memory a little bit.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19But it knocked her confidence with looking after Jake quite a bit.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23We then started getting that back,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25and she was then a lot more happy with Jake,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28and the bond was coming back properly as well.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34It soon became obvious that life would have to change fundamentally
0:12:34 > 0:12:38when Michelle's doctors delivered some harsh news to Wayne.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40I was told that...
0:12:42 > 0:12:46..it would not be advisable for her to be left alone with a child now.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49So I then took that as a decision to stop work,
0:12:49 > 0:12:51to look after the pair of them.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54It was a huge decision for Wayne to have to take.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58He had worked since leaving school and had never claimed benefits,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02Now, he had to face not only looking after his wife and new baby,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04but also living on much less money.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Financially was fairly hard.
0:13:08 > 0:13:14All we were getting, basically, was Disability Living Allowance for Michelle...
0:13:14 > 0:13:16and Carer's Allowance for myself,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18and Michelle's maternity pay,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20as she was technically still on maternity leave.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24And that was basically all we were getting,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28so from going from nearly £2,000 a month...
0:13:28 > 0:13:30down to about £840 a month
0:13:30 > 0:13:32was not very good at all.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36As the months passed, things started to look up for the Lambert family.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38After a very stressful time,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Wayne was hoping that Michelle would be able to make a full recovery
0:13:41 > 0:13:43and he would be able to go back to work.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47The future was looking pretty good.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50I was actually considering looking for...
0:13:50 > 0:13:52OK, not a full-time job,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55but perhaps going back part-time.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59OK, I was still the main carer for Michelle at the time...
0:13:59 > 0:14:01but I was then thinking,
0:14:01 > 0:14:06"Well, perhaps after Christmas, I'd start looking for a part-time job".
0:14:06 > 0:14:09But Wayne's optimism was short-lived.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12In October that year, when Jake was just six months old,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Michelle suffered another epileptic seizure.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21Wayne found her after she and Jake had turned in for an early night.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23I could hear a funny noise in the bedroom.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27So I poked my head in,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31and she was actually in a full-blown, major seizure.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37Jake was just sitting up in his cot as if to say,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39"Well, what's happening?"
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Michelle pulled through but nothing was going to be the same again.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Michelle had epilepsy since the age of 14
0:14:45 > 0:14:48but this was the biggest seizure she'd ever experienced.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Her memory had been damaged beyond repair.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55We'd go into the Co-op, she'd see some people who she knew
0:14:55 > 0:14:58and she'd realise who they were but as soon as she walked out the shop,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00by the time she's walked out the shop,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03she wouldn't even remember seeing anybody in there.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05She wouldn't even remember being in the shop.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Wayne was forced to give up his well-paid job
0:15:07 > 0:15:09in order to stay at home and look after Michelle
0:15:09 > 0:15:12and their baby son Jake.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16If I had the chance to go back to some work I would do, even now,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19but I know, at the moment, it's not possible
0:15:19 > 0:15:22because Michelle and Jake need me to be at home.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28On top of learning how to adapt to Michelle's increased care needs,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Wayne was also struggling financially.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32No longer able to go out to work,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35the whole family was surviving on just £800 a month
0:15:35 > 0:15:38of Disability Living Allowance and Carer's Allowance.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40But, fortunately,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44the Lamberts had been put in touch with local charity Home Start.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46Home Start is a family support charity.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50There's approximately 300 schemes across the UK.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54And schemes support families for lots of different reasons.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Our volunteers visit families once a week.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01They support them for about two to three hours, providing what the family need.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03So, it may be some help going out to a group,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05maybe a parent and toddler group.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07It may be doing some shopping.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09It may be sitting down and having a cup of tea and a chat.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Whatever's needed.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Since Michelle's second seizure, Home Start had matched
0:16:15 > 0:16:18the Lambert family with a new volunteer called Lynette.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22And she was determined to give them as much help as she could.
0:16:22 > 0:16:28Initially, I came and I supported Wayne just by being a listening ear.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Someone for him to talk to,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34helping him, really, deal with things day to day.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Deal with some of those initial stresses.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Look at how he was managing family life.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44And, perhaps, give him a little bit of a break as well, sit and play
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and interact with Jake.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49And help him out where I could.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54- Rabbit kicks.- Kicks, kicks. - Turns.- Turns, yeah.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58For Wayne, who was struggling with depression
0:16:58 > 0:17:01and desperately trying to come to terms with his new situation,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03this time to himself was crucial.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06There were times I used to just go out for a nice walk
0:17:06 > 0:17:09and just to get some fresh air or if there was something
0:17:09 > 0:17:14which I needed to do on the car I'd then go out and do that.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17It meant I could actually stay a lot calmer
0:17:17 > 0:17:21and I weren't getting quite so stressed.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25And I was able just, basically, to relax
0:17:25 > 0:17:27and do the things which I like doing.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Wayne's financial worries were also really adding to his depression.
0:17:31 > 0:17:37Fortunately, Home Start also have a programme which they call Maximising Income
0:17:37 > 0:17:39which is intended to help people find out
0:17:39 > 0:17:41exactly what benefits they are entitled to.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Lynette realised that the Lamberts were struggling for cash.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48So, she carried out a benefits check for them.
0:17:48 > 0:17:54I could see quite quickly that Wayne was entitled to Income Support
0:17:54 > 0:17:57and that was something that Wayne wasn't aware of.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And it also identified the fact
0:17:59 > 0:18:02that he was entitled to Child Tax Credits as well.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05So, that was quite a difference per month to this family.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09It was great news for Wayne that his family would be able
0:18:09 > 0:18:12to get some more financial support.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15I was quite surprised that, cos I was actually entitled
0:18:15 > 0:18:21not only to Income Support but to Child Tax Credits, Child Benefit and,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26I think, we managed to get Michelle's DLA up as well to high rate care.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29It's actually really helped us out with all that.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35It's boosted our finances up from about £800
0:18:35 > 0:18:38to, I think, it's nearly £1300-£1400 a month.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41It means all the bills are paid,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44I can also feed the family with no problems whatsoever.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49Basically, I don't have to worry too much about money now.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Thanks to Home Start helping him find out what benefits
0:18:52 > 0:18:55he was entitled to, Wayne now feels that he can stay at home
0:18:55 > 0:18:58with his family for as long as they need him.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00And another Home Start initiative,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04the weekly family group has also proven invaluable
0:19:04 > 0:19:08in helping Michelle and Jake to strengthen their relationship.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13- You go off and play, darling. There's a good boy. See you later.- OK.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Michelle and Jake are able to spend some time together,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19playing, having some fun.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22At home Jake has Dad and likes to play with Dad
0:19:22 > 0:19:27but here it's, Michelle can have some bonding time with him.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Wayne has also noticed that attending the group
0:19:29 > 0:19:34is really helping Jake and Michelle rebuild their relationship.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37The bond is now starting to come back nice and strong.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Jake is actually going to Michelle a lot more.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43He realises, now, that is his mum.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Michelle's now getting to grips with the fact
0:19:47 > 0:19:51that, yeah, she is his mum as well. And able to help out.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55OK, it's still with a lot of prompting but it is starting
0:19:55 > 0:19:59to get there and she is starting to enjoy being a mother again.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Michelle will probably never recover from the brain injury she suffered
0:20:04 > 0:20:06during her last epileptic seizure.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10But thanks to Home Start and Lynette, in particular,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13the Lambert family are now getting the financial
0:20:13 > 0:20:15and emotional support they need.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Where we're at now is we're nice and comfortable,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20we're financially stable.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Health wise, my health has benefited from it.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26I'm not quite so stressed
0:20:26 > 0:20:32and I'm able to do a lot more with Jake as well as Michelle.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36And with Home Start not being there, I don't know where I'd be.
0:20:36 > 0:20:42Without them I really don't know how I'd cope, basically.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Back now to the scroungers.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51And investigators are looking into the benefit claims
0:20:51 > 0:20:52of mum of two Clare Evans.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55She's been receiving Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support
0:20:55 > 0:20:59and Housing and Council Tax Benefits since 2004.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03But investigators have discovered that Clare Evans has actually
0:21:03 > 0:21:08managed to get credit worth tens of thousands of pounds in recent years
0:21:08 > 0:21:11and a massive £65,000 has been deposited
0:21:11 > 0:21:15in her current account in a period of just four years.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Crikey. I mean, that's an awful lot of money for somebody
0:21:18 > 0:21:20who, supposedly, hasn't got a job.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22But you want to find out where it's all come from.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Yeah, you'll see that a lot of these items are listed as foreign items
0:21:26 > 0:21:28which didn't mean anything to us at the time.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Investigators don't know where the money's coming from
0:21:32 > 0:21:35but they've got a good idea where it's going.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Clare Evans has bought numerous luxury cars in recent years.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43But how does someone who's been on benefits for so long get so much credit?
0:21:43 > 0:21:46The first piece of the jigsaw dropped into place
0:21:46 > 0:21:49when they decided to pay a call to her letting agent.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53We went to see this particular person, the agent, and he provided us
0:21:53 > 0:21:57with a copy of the application she'd made when she rented the property.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Along with that and the fact that she was getting credit
0:21:59 > 0:22:02on these cars, she must've been telling people she had a job.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Well, this is what we found out.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08She'd actually told the letting agent that she was employed as a model.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11- Earning £25,000 a year.- OK.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Had been for about four years
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and identified the studio for which she was working.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Which is all the damning evidence you need
0:22:18 > 0:22:21cos, no doubt, that had her signature on it.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Indeed.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Ah-ha. Supposedly unemployed Clare Evans, actually,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29had a very lucrative career as a model.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32And it only took a few clicks on a search engine
0:22:32 > 0:22:36to find some of the images of herself she was selling.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40We subsequently identified at least two sites
0:22:40 > 0:22:43- that she was using to model on. - What are we talking about?
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Catalogue modelling or something a little bit shadier.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Yes, glamour modelling, glamour modelling.
0:22:48 > 0:22:49One of the sites that she used,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53she advertised her services for fees of up to £75 per hour.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- OK, so we're talking about adult sites?- Yes.- OK.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Clare Evans might be a glamour model but she's no ditzy blonde.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06She's been getting away with claiming benefits on the basis
0:23:06 > 0:23:10that she is an unemployed mum of two in need of help to pay her rent.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13All the while earning tens of thousands of pounds a year as a model.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16And that's not all she's been sneaky about.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19The letting agent's paperwork also revealed
0:23:19 > 0:23:22that Clare Evans was using more than one address.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25In the application that she made to rent the property,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28she quoted her previous address as an address in Bristol.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31As far as we at the council were concerned, we had no record of that address.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36But records showed that she'd used that Bristol address to record all her credit at.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39That meant that the letting agent, when they do their checks
0:23:39 > 0:23:42to find out if she's going to be a good tenant,
0:23:42 > 0:23:44it shows that she would have lived there for a long time,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46she's got credit at the address.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51So, she was actually being dishonest with the credit companies, with the banks, with her letting agents.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54- Obviously, the council, everybody. - She was.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58She had this one address which was getting her a good credit rating.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01So, Clare Evans had managed to keep claiming benefits
0:24:01 > 0:24:04by presenting herself as an unemployed mother of two
0:24:04 > 0:24:06who can't afford her rent.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09But at the same time, she's living the high life
0:24:09 > 0:24:12bankrolled by her secret career as a glamour model.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16In effect, what she's done is she's got, sort of, a split personality, here, hasn't she?
0:24:16 > 0:24:20One which is really good and good enough to get credit for expensive cars.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24And another one which is good enough to give her benefits cos she's unemployed.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28That's precisely right, yes. She's split her identity down the middle, I think.
0:24:28 > 0:24:34And what's worse is that Clare Evans has pulled a stunt like this before.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38We prosecuted her for benefit fraud only back in 2008.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40At that time, she had falsified a tenancy
0:24:40 > 0:24:43to enable her to get benefits she wasn't entitled to then.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47And we thought it was sufficiently serious that we prosecuted her.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50- She obviously didn't learn her lesson, did she?- Far from it.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54This time, investigators were determined
0:24:54 > 0:24:57that Clare Evans realised the seriousness of her crime.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01We called her in for interview under caution, which is a formal interview.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And we asked her about her work.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Sensing her number was up, she admitted
0:25:06 > 0:25:09that she did, indeed, have a source of income that she hadn't declared.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14She told us that she was earning between £200 and £800 a month
0:25:14 > 0:25:16- from her activities as a glamour model.- Wow.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19- Nice little income on top of your benefits, isn't it?- Very nice.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22In just four years, Clare Evans had amassed a fortune
0:25:22 > 0:25:27of £65,000 in royalties for work she had done on adult modelling sites
0:25:27 > 0:25:30and in online adult entertainment videos.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33But she had some very interesting logic as to why she felt
0:25:33 > 0:25:36she didn't have to declare her income.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38She felt that it was such a small amount of work
0:25:38 > 0:25:41she'd actually undertaken that it wasn't worth reporting.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44- What 65 grand in four years? - Well, she seemed to think that,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47as I say, the hours that she put in to make the videos,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50that we subsequently found out she was making,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52didn't require her reporting them.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56It's not the amount she's earned, it's that she did the videos quite quickly.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Well, that's what she thought.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02But she'd have to do better than that to convince the courts to go easy on her.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08In July 2011, Clare Evans appeared at Bristol Crown Court
0:26:08 > 0:26:10where she was charged with ten offences
0:26:10 > 0:26:12relating to her claims to benefits.
0:26:12 > 0:26:13She pleaded guilty.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18She'd defrauded the benefit system out of £62,000
0:26:18 > 0:26:20she wasn't entitled to.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Although she was pregnant at the time of her court appearance,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27the judge showed no leniency towards this repeat offender
0:26:27 > 0:26:29and sentenced her to ten months imprisonment.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32And, on her release,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36she will have to repay all the money she stole from the benefit system.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Some people think they can have their cake and eat it.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Get a job that pays good money and claim benefits at the same time.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45But, scroungers, beware,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47if you're going to live life in the fast lane
0:26:47 > 0:26:50at the taxpayer's expense, you better keep an eye on your mirror.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Because you never know when fraud investigators might be hot on your tail.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd