Jones/Stuart Saints and Scroungers

This programme tracks down thieves, it exposes fraudsters

and it brings help to those who really deserve it.

This is the frontline in the battle against benefit fraud.

This is Saints & Scroungers.

Saints & Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves

who steal millions every year, and the crack teams 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 comeuppance.

Coming up on today's show...

How a scrounging couple connived to steal nearly 70 grand

in benefits while he worked full-time, using someone else's name

and claimed to be unable to work due to disability.

The crux of the investigation was to prove that he wasn't, in fact, disabled at all.

And a woman living in danger in her own home.

It's always on my mind that I'll walk in, come in the house,

and Mum's had a fall in the bathroom and that's it.

She's not with me any more.

Living a double life is no easy task.

Don't I know it!

You have to juggle two separate names and two separate identities.

Not that I'd know. After all, there is only one Dominic Littlewood.

Now clear off, you!

But some people really do live two completely different lives

and it's only when they overlap that they end up getting caught out.

Meet the Joneses, James and his partner Kay from Croydon.

On the surface they're a couple deserving of benefits.

She has a daughter to support and very little income coming in.

He apparently suffers from a painful arthritic condition

which means he's unable to work.

But appearances can be deceptive.

On top of the benefits he's been getting, has James Jones stolen

someone else's identity to make even more money from a full-time job?

Croydon Council and the Department for Work and Pensions

have received an anonymous call on the benefit fraud hotline.

Andy MacDonald has taken on the case.

The tip-off we received said that James Ivor Jones

was working full-time for a tram operations company,

as a tram driver, under the name of Stephen Gooding.

So he's suspected of being more dishonest than disabled,

while the couple have apparently been busy scrounging

almost 70 grand in benefits they're not entitled to.

I've come to meet Croydon Council's fraud investigator Gail Campbell,

who's on their case.

Am I right in saying that, right up until the point

when the DWP called you, had, for any reason, James Jones stepped into your radar before that?

We didn't have any need to be looking at their claim for benefit.

It was maintained properly.

But, of course, now your alarm bells are ringing.

The DWP are saying, "We've got a problem here.

-"You've probably got a problem."

-Yeah.

-You pulled the file. What did you discover?

Well, we discovered that they'd been claiming housing and council tax benefits

from 1999 as a couple, right up to 2010.

So they got housing benefit, council tax allowance and what, incapacity benefits?

Incapacity benefit was being paid for James Jones.

-So, basically, as far as their claims go, they've got multiple claims going on?

-Yeah.

-OK. And if they're entitled to 'em, albeit, fair and good.

-Mm-hm.

From 2004, James Jones also claimed incapacity benefit

because of an arthritic condition he said prevented him from working.

So, if he's claiming incapacity benefits,

what is he saying is wrong with him?

Well, he says he's got a condition called ankylosing spondylitis.

In a nutshell, what is that? Layman's terms, please.

It's an inflammatory condition of the spine.

A bad back that's such that he can't work.

And how long had he been claiming he was suffering from this from?

On his forms, he says he's had that condition since 1996.

So, if he can't work, and she's got a kid to support,

so far things look pretty legit.

But, in April 2010, the Department for Work and Pensions,

which was paying Jones' incapacity benefit, received a mysterious tip-off

that cast doubt on the legitimacy of his claims.

The allegation was very specific.

It said that James Ivor Jones and Stephen Gooding were one and the same person,

one of them in receipt of social security benefits,

and the other one in full-time employment

and working for a tram operations company.

Round about the same time, a man calling himself Stephen Gooding

attended a Jobcentre in order to make a claim for benefit.

When his National Insurance number was checked,

he was told he couldn't claim because he was working.

Mr Gooding protested his innocence to the clerk and said,

"Well, I'm not working, so I'm not sure why your records could possibly show that."

Hang on a minute.

So Stephen Gooding was trying to sign on in another part of the country,

but the DWP was being told that he was driving a tram in Croydon

and that the Croydon Stephen Gooding was actually James Jones.

Was he lying about his name AND his health?

If he genuinely had this condition, would he be able to drive a tram?

I'd say it's very unlikely because you need to be sitting to drive the tram and,

if you've got any condition of the back, I would think that you would

find that very uncomfortable and you wouldn't be able to do your job.

If he didn't have this disability, and he was working full-time,

would they have been entitled to those benefits?

They wouldn't have been entitled to the housing

and the council tax benefit,

or the incapacity benefit because he obviously would be working.

So, literally, nothing of what he was claiming he was entitled to?

Not if he was working, no.

Surely it couldn't be our Mr Jones

working at the tram company, could it?

Time to find out whether there was any truth to this rumour.

One of the first stages of the investigation, obviously, was to contact the tram company and say,

"Do you have anybody working in the name of Stephen Gooding?"

They were able to confirm to us that they, in fact,

did have somebody by that name in full-time employment as a tram driver.

It turned out there was further damning evidence to link

James Jones in Croydon to Stephen Gooding in the West Country.

The tram company were also able to confirm the National Insurance number

used by the Stephen Gooding that they had working for them

was the same National Insurance number used by the chap

who represented himself in Jobcentre.

At that stage, it was absolutely clear to us that there was a case of a hijacked identity.

The evidence is mounting.

But why on earth would James Jones

want to steal Stephen Gooding's identity?

What we do know is that James Jones did have a previous conviction

for benefit fraud in 2004, due to the fact that he failed

to declare to the Department that his partner was earning money.

He received a community service order as punishment for that.

So he's already been caught with his hands in the benefit jar

and, apparently, he didn't learn his lesson that time.

Identity theft is a worryingly common problem in the UK.

It can be devastating to those people whose identities are stolen

and it is estimated to cost us taxpayers £1.9 billion a year.

And proving each case can be tricky, time-consuming and expensive.

In James Jones' case, there was nothing to prove

that the person who hijacked Stephen Gooding's national insurance number

was James Jones.

The crux of the investigation for the Department at this stage, then,

was to prove that James Jones, who was in receipt of incapacity benefit

as being disabled, was A - working in the name of Stephen Gooding,

i.e. he had hijacked the identity,

and also B - that he wasn't, in fact, disabled at all.

What was going on? Was there two Stephen Goodings?

One that says he's out of work

and one in Croydon, working full-time on the trams?

And what did either of them have to do with James Jones?

Coming up, the net is closing in on James Jones.

Of course, the contradiction that we got from the surveillance

was not just that this one person was using two different identities, but also,

if you like, the medical background was completely contradictory.

But will it be enough proof to stop this fraudster in his tracks?

Next, it's farewell to the scroungers and hello to the saints.

The innocent men and women all over the UK in dire need of government help,

and the people who show them the way to claim what they deserve.

There's no place like home, I'm sure you would all agree.

And, when you've worked hard all your life, there's nothing like having a place to call your own.

But what happens when you can't afford its upkeep

and it starts to become a hazard to your health?

Who can you turn to?

79-year-old pensioner Eunice Stewart has lived in her family home

in Bristol for the past 26 years.

But now, instead of being the safe haven it should be,

her home has been falling apart around her.

I've come to meet Eunice's daughter, Wendy, to find out what's been going on.

I mean, the very obvious thing to suggest, of course, is, why doesn't she sell up

and buy something a bit smaller, something a bit more manageable?

Um, mainly because it's the family home and we don't want to get rid of it.

Mum wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

She wants to stay in that home and that's what we want to achieve for her.

As Wendy takes me down the road to meet her mother, I'm getting the impression here

that Eunice is very much of the old school - proud, independent,

with a fighting spirit that has stood her in good stead

so far in her life and she's not about change now.

-Hello, Eunice.

-Pleased to meet you.

-And lovely to meet you, too.

-What a lovely dress. Is this new?

-Yes.

-You look smashing, I've got to say.

-Thank you.

So tell me something about the house.

Dare I say it? Have you ever thought about selling up and moving on?

-No.

-Does that mean you've never thought about it or you mean...

-I thought about it but I'm not selling it.

-Right. Why not?

I want to stay here till I die.

'Just as I thought.

'This lady is not for moving and, indeed, why should she?'

However, there are some seriously dangerous issues in this house,

just waiting to trip Eunice up, and quite literally.

For a start, the kitchen has a hazardous step and a poor layout.

The cupboards are unusable, the taps need replacing and,

for the past eight years, Eunice has had to get down on her hands and knees to light the oven.

She's had to come in, every time she wants to light this,

she's got to come down to light the pilot light which is at the bottom?

Right at the back. You can see where the paper's been burnt and stuff, so that's no good.

Another room that is fast becoming unusable is the bathroom.

So this is the bathroom, as it stands at the moment.

'Eunice has sciatica so she can't use the bath any more

'and the damp coming through the walls and the condensation

'make it a serious slip hazard.'

It's always on my mind that, you know, I'll walk in, come in the house

and Mum's had a fall in the bathroom and that's it.

Staying in her own home is clearly the best option

but where is the money to do all these repairs going to come from?

Because, without them Eunice is in real danger of harm

or of losing her home.

I'm not in a financial situation to help her at the moment, nor is my brothers and sisters.

So we are just doing our best to see if we can get everything done by other ways.

And then, just when the family had all but given up hope,

in stepped their very own saint.

Meet Joss Clark from home improvement agency

Bristol Care & Repair, whose mission in life is to help elderly people,

and the disabled, to stay in their own home safely.

First thing I can see here, Eunice, is the step into the kitchen.

What would be really good is if we could give you a half-step into the kitchen

so you've only got a small step down, and that might help you.

The other thing that we could look at doing is putting what's called a grab rail

on the wall here for you. And that might assist you as well.

Another hazard that I can see immediately,

as we come into the kitchen, is your cooker,

where it's placed in the kitchen and, particularly,

this door opening into this doorway is a trip hazard.

So what might be a good idea is if we have a cooker

that's at a height that you can just pull food in and out,

-without having to bend down.

-Yes.

It would be much safer for you.

Obviously you can't use your bath any more so what we need to look at doing

is some kind of level access shower - might be quite good for you.

So there's no step into the shower.

So I think what we're talking about here today is a new kitchen and a new bathroom for you.

Yes, please. Yes, please. Thank you.

-Is that good?

-Yes.

-Excellent.

What a result for Eunice and a relief for the family.

But, wouldn't you know it, it's not quite as simple as it sounds.

Care & Repair must have discussed with you

various different payment plans and options to try and get it done.

-Mm, yeah.

-Cos that's the big issue here, of course. Mum knows the work needs doing, don't you, Eunice?

-Yeah.

-You know that. But it's a money thing, isn't it?

-You haven't got the money to sort it out.

-No.

What did they say about the finances?

What she would have to do is get a loan and then, if she didn't qualify the loan, or couldn't get the loan,

then what they'd actually do is tag it on to the property,

so if the property ever gets sold, then that's the way they recoup their money.

But, I think, as a family, we need her to sit down and look at the options.

I think the best one for us, basically, is if she needs the loan,

let's get the loan and we'll all contribute towards the cost of it.

However, unknown to the family, saintly Joss was determined to find a way to help.

By pure chance, Joss and her team were getting ready to celebrate

the charity's 25th anniversary of keeping Bristolians safely in their own homes.

Could this prove to be just the opportunity Joss was looking for?

Part of the celebrations for the 25th birthday of Care & Repair

is that the organisation decided to have a house makeover.

Joss actually put Mum's name forward for her to have some works done, for nothing, basically.

One of the people on the board who was looking at the applications

was driving his car out and I stopped him.

So I knew before I got in the building that she'd won,

so I was really pleased

It was so exciting. My mum hasn't got a mobile phone so I couldn't tell her,

so I was ringing everybody else, going, "Oh, my God!"

Two weeks later and it's time for the work to begin in Eunice's home.

We've contacted our contractors who we work with on a regular basis.

They're donating their time, their labour, the materials for free.

The whole family's involved in this and I just think it's going to make

a huge, huge difference to that family's life.

I think you're right about that, Joss.

The makeover in the kitchen has turned an unusable, hazardous, no-go area

into a spanking new workable kitchen.

I like the kitchen very much. It's like a palace

I look around and it's so nice, everything. Really good.

I thank you very much for helping me.

As for the bathroom, what was once a cold, damp slip hazard

with a bath Eunice just couldn't use,

is now a wonderfully equipped warm bathroom.

It's comfortable. It's liveable.

She's safer and more secure so, as a family, we'll be much happier

about Mum being here by herself now.

It's going to mean a lot to us all.

Toast to Nanny's house - cheers!

ALL: Cheers, Nan!

Back in the world of scroungers, over in Croydon, the council's fraud team

is on the verge of cracking the case of James and Kay Jones,

who are suspected of stolen identity and multiple benefit fraud,

totalling nearly £70,000.

Hmm, so the Joneses are claiming lots of benefits.

Are they entitled to them, or is he moonlighting under a false identity?

Time for the DWP to jump on board.

Working together, Croydon Council and the DWP suspect

that he may not be disabled and, what's more, that he may be working

full-time for a local tram company under a hijacked identity.

The tricky thing is how to prove it.

Andy MacDonald of the DWP is hot on the trail.

What was very interesting, from our point of view, is that the tram company

told us that they'd had to actually deal with a rumour

that certain members of the public had been referring to him as Jimmy, while he was on the trams.

They called him in and asked him about this and said,

"What's the explanation for this?"

And all that Stephen Gooding, or James Jones, as we knew, could say to them was,

"I've been called many things in my time. But I am Stephen Gooding."

Interesting as this was, it wasn't enough.

The team needed to find proof that this Stephen Gooding

was actually James Jones.

The tram company was able to confirm to us from personnel records

that the address that they held for Stephen Gooding was the same address

that was being used for the incapacity claim for James Jones.

This was exactly the breakthrough they needed

-but there were more to come.

-Further, they were able to confirm

that the stated next of kin for Stephen Gooding was Kay Wheadon,

who we knew to be the partner of the benefit recipient James Jones.

What a coincidence, eh(!)

So the Stephen Gooding who's working as a tram driver here in Croydon

has the same address as James Jones!

And, on top of that, he also has the same wife!

So the next question must surely be,

was she in on the fraud with her husband

or had she been duped, along with everyone else?

Well, it's quite simple. She's filled the forms in.

This is her handwriting on the forms.

The forms have been signed by her and him.

I would say that she's fully aware of what's going on.

-They're thick as thieves, aren't they?

-Yeah, they've both been doing it together.

Well, that seems fairly conclusive.

But the team still needed photographic proof

that James Jones and Stephen Gooding were one and the same person.

So the DWP came up with a cunning plan to catch this wily fraudster.

Armed with a photograph of Stephen Gooding from the tram company files,

they laid in wait outside Purley Jobcentre, where James Jones

was due to be called in for a standard benefits assessment interview to check

that he was receiving the correct benefits for his needs.

We were in the vicinity of the Jobcentre for, I don't know,

let's say about around an hour.

We saw somebody go in to the Jobcentre who was a close match

to what we had of the description of Gooding.

We then received information from an investigator inside

that a gentleman had presented himself to the clerk as James Jones.

This person was filmed inside the Jobcentre

and then when this person left the Jobcentre, he was again filmed.

At that stage, we were able to compare it and say

James Jones and Stephen Gooding are the same person.

Result!

Just the conclusive proof needed to nail James Jones as a fraudster.

But what about his so-called disability?

Of course, the contradiction that we got from the surveillance

was not just that this one person was using two different identities,

but also, if you like,

the medical background was completely contradictory between the two.

One person working, fully able, fully fit,

fully mobile, in the tram company.

And then this other person representing himself at the Jobcentre

who seemed to be able to struggle just to get into the Jobcentre

without the assistance of a stick.

And yet we know that these are the same person.

Unbelievable.

The team now had concrete proof that James Jones was posing

as Stephen Gooding so that he could work and bring home the bacon.

But, on top of that, he was also claiming to be unable to work

so that he could claim benefits on top of his wages.

Now that's what I call royally screwing the system.

The team now had enough evidence to go and arrest Jones

and bring him in for questioning.

Tell me what happened on the day of the arrest.

The arrest team and myself, and an officer from the DWP,

we went to the tram headquarters.

When James Jones turned up for work,

he was called into the manager's office.

What he wasn't aware of was that the police were hiding round the door.

The manager then asked him to identify himself.

As soon as he gave his name as Stephen Gooding,

the police then arrested him and cautioned him.

What was his face, can you remember?

Yeah, he was shocked, very surprised

and speechless, really. He didn't say anything at all.

-He didn't have a clue this was about to happen?

-No.

The locker of the employee Stephen Gooding was then searched

and amongst the items that were seized, as evidence in this case,

were a bank card in the name of Stephen Gooding,

and also a front door key which we later found out to be the key to James Jones' house.

With the evidence against him stacking up,

Jones was interviewed under caution at Croydon police station.

He was very forthcoming during the course of the interview.

He admitted signing all of the claim forms that were shown to him,

the claim forms for the incapacity benefit.

He admitted working in the name of Stephen Gooding.

He admitted the offences that we were putting to him.

Finally, after years of lies and deceit,

this tram-driving fraudster had run out of track.

But how did James Jones in Croydon

manage to steal a National Insurance number from Stephen Gooding

in an entirely different part of the country?

James Jones was able to confirm to us

that he was working as a taxi driver in Croydon in 1997,

which was round about the time that Stephen Gooding lost his wallet,

and we knew that Gooding has connections to Croydon,

so it was always a possibility, perhaps,

that that's how he got hold of the identity.

After James Jones was released, pending sentencing,

his wife Kay Wheadon Jones was also arrested

and brought in to Croydon police station for questioning...

where she admitted to helping to fill out the benefit forms.

But that wasn't all.

She also admitted that she knew James Jones used the identity

of Stephen Gooding for work purposes and that he used the identity

of James Jones, which is his real identity, for claiming benefits.

James Jones and Kay Wheadon Jones were charged with 26 counts

of fraud, including making false statements,

making false representations, false accounting

and obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception.

On the 7th of January 2011,

James Jones pleaded guilty to fraud and deception.

Kay Wheadon Jones also pleaded guilty

to aiding and abetting James Jones to commit fraud.

James and Kay Jones swindled UK taxpayers

out of a total of £67,641.27.

James Jones was sent to prison for three years.

Kay Wheadon Jones was sentenced to 12 months,

suspended for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours community service.

She was spared jail as the judge decided she would not have become

involved in the crime without pressure from her husband.

A custodial sentence is probably the only fair thing

that a judge could give under the circumstances.

Given the length of the fraud,

and the sophistication of the fraud, and, in fact, the efforts

that Wheadon and Jones went to, to make this fraud continue over that long period.

It sends out a good signal to anyone that wants to commit benefit fraud

in that we're here, we'll catch you and we'll bring you to justice.

And justice for the real Stephen Gooding

must be that he can finally call his name his own again.

So, keeping up with the Joneses has been no easy task but now,

finally, they've run out of track.

Last stop - Her Majesty's pleasure.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd