0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme tracks down thieves, it exposes fraudsters and it brings help to those who really deserve it.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11This is the front line in the battle against benefit fraud.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14This is Saints And Scroungers.
0:00:36 > 0:00:42'Saints And Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves who steal millions every year
0:00:42 > 0:00:47'and the crack teams of investigators determined to scupper their devious scams.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52'And we also shine a light on those who genuinely need the money
0:00:52 > 0:00:55'and the people who help them get it. They are our saints.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59'The saints get help and the fraudsters get their comeuppance.'
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Coming up on today's show,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05how a woman used her husband and her children
0:01:05 > 0:01:09to steal over £100,000 in false benefit claims.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13It's the highest amount that I've seen fraudulently claimed.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18'And a man whose family shopping trip turned into the worst day of his life.'
0:01:18 > 0:01:25I was assaulted and after all the swelling and things had gone down,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28I didn't have any sight left.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36We all have our favourite bands and some of us even like going to gigs.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41Some fans will even travel the length and breadth of the country in search of their favourite stars.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44But going to concerts is an expensive hobby
0:01:44 > 0:01:50and when you're using taxpayers' money to fund your obsession with boy bands, that's not on.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55'Meet Jayne McKnight, a music fan from Wolverhampton.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59'She enjoys nothing more than listening to her favourite bands.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01'And why not? She's had a tough time.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03'With a husband in a low paid job
0:02:03 > 0:02:07'and three out of her four children disabled, she's reliant on benefits.
0:02:10 > 0:02:16'But appearances can be deceptive. She's suspected of being a massive benefit cheat
0:02:16 > 0:02:21'who has conned the British taxpayer out of £112,000 in benefits.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27'Fraud investigator Andy Millican is hot on her trail.'
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Jayne McKnight's case was one of the ones that was flagged up
0:02:31 > 0:02:37purely by virtue of the amount of the claim involved, which was in excess of £20,000 per annum.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40'That's a tidy sum in anyone's book.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43'But how was she able to claim all that?
0:02:43 > 0:02:47'Well, to start with, it seemed she had four children to look after, was unemployed
0:02:47 > 0:02:50'and her husband was in a low paid job.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56'Surely she deserved extra help with childcare and tax credits. Didn't she?
0:02:56 > 0:03:00'I've come to meet Clare Merrills from HM Revenue and Customs
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'who are responsible for all tax credits
0:03:02 > 0:03:05'to get some clarification about the kind of help out there
0:03:05 > 0:03:08'for people like McKnight.'
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Claire, tell me about working tax credits. What are they?
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Working tax credits are for people who are working.
0:03:14 > 0:03:21So if you are working and you're on a lower income, then you may be entitled to working tax credits
0:03:21 > 0:03:26and the first thing to do is give us a call, explain your circumstances, details of your household income,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29how many hours you're working, that type of thing.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31We will then work out if you're entitled to it.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36If you are, we'll send the form back to you showing exactly what we think you're entitled to.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39You need to check that and then we'll start paying it to you.
0:03:39 > 0:03:45'So in 2003, the McKnights made a joint claim for tax credits.'
0:03:45 > 0:03:48As a result of that application, payment was processed
0:03:48 > 0:03:54resulting in amounts of over £6,000 in respect of child tax credit
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and over £2,000 in respect of the working tax credit element.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01'But that was just the beginning.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04'During the course of that first year
0:04:04 > 0:04:10'Jayne McKnight made 25 calls to the helpline to add further elements to her payments.'
0:04:18 > 0:04:23'One call was to confirm that one of her children was now disabled.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:34As a result of that, her claim was amended,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38which enabled her, for the whole year, to claim in excess of £10,000.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41'The childcare element of working tax credit
0:04:41 > 0:04:46'enables people to get back to work and reclaim a percentage of childcare costs.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50'Having a disabled child increases the amount you're able to claim.'
0:04:52 > 0:04:56It sounds fair enough to me. A child with a disability might need specialist care,
0:04:56 > 0:05:00and like most people, I'm all for giving deserving parents a helping hand.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04'But McKnight's claims didn't stop there.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07'Time for her to press that redial button again.'
0:05:20 > 0:05:24During 2004/5, Jayne McKnight reported some changes in circumstances
0:05:24 > 0:05:30and these included the fact that her husband was no longer employed
0:05:30 > 0:05:32and, in fact, he was severely disabled.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37In addition, she then went on to say that two more of her children were also disabled.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Furthermore, she then stated that she had registered
0:05:40 > 0:05:43for employment with a temping agency.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48This allowed her to increase the element of working tax credits for her, as well.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55'More changes mean more money. So what's the grand total now?'
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Her tax credit award had increased to over £13,000.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05Now, that's an awful lot of money, but then looking after a disabled husband and three disabled children
0:06:05 > 0:06:09is no easy task. Surely people like this need all the help they can get.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14'And Jayne McKnight was certainly not shy in coming forward
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'to ask for that help.'
0:06:16 > 0:06:18For the year 2005/6,
0:06:18 > 0:06:23she'd reported that her working hours had reduced from 20 to 16.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27The net result of all this was that the total award in payment
0:06:27 > 0:06:30was almost £17,000.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33'It was beginning to feel as though Jayne McKnight
0:06:33 > 0:06:36'had Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs helpline on speed dial
0:06:36 > 0:06:41'as once again is seems the payments were just not enough.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44'During the year 2006-2007,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49'she also claimed that her children were in childcare due to her part-time job
0:06:49 > 0:06:51'and she needed extra help with that,
0:06:51 > 0:06:58'boosting the grand total for that year to over £23,500.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02'And if you thought that was the end of it, think again.'
0:07:02 > 0:07:09By the year 2007/8, she was receiving almost £30,000 per annum in tax credits,
0:07:09 > 0:07:14which I understand is equivalent to a gross annual salary of £40,000 a year.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21'Although benefits like these are clearly lifesavers for those people genuinely in need,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26'every year benefit cheats cost the British taxpayer, that's you and me,
0:07:26 > 0:07:31'a staggering one and a half billion pounds.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:36In this country, how much is paid out each year in working tax credits and child tax credits?
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Tax credits as a whole, we pay out £27 billion a year.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44- Billion?- Yeah, that's £27 billion to six million families.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Right, I'm shocked at that amount. How much of that is fraudulent?
0:07:48 > 0:07:53Back in 2009, the figure for error and fraud, so that's people filling in forms incorrectly...
0:07:53 > 0:07:57- Making mistakes. - ..making mistakes, was standing at just under nine percent.
0:07:57 > 0:08:012010, we'd got that down to just under seven and a half percent.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Our aim is that we will have it to five percent or less.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10'Now, of course, if Jayne McKnight's claims were genuine then she was entitled to the money.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16'But with such high stakes involved, the fraud team needed to make sure she was telling the truth.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23'The main undercover investigator working with Andy on this case
0:08:23 > 0:08:27'was keen to pursue all the avenues open to her.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31'Due to the nature of her work, she needs to remain anonymous.'
0:08:32 > 0:08:35The amount being paid to Jayne McKnight was quite high
0:08:35 > 0:08:39and therefore we decided to cross-match with other government departments
0:08:39 > 0:08:45and indeed our own systems to ensure that the information held matched against ours.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49'This cross-check immediately started the alarm bells ringing,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51'beginning with her disabled husband.'
0:08:51 > 0:08:58We did some checks and discovered that he was working for a local newspaper company
0:08:58 > 0:09:00in Wolverhampton as a delivery driver.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09Jayne had mentioned that her husband was disabled because he was currently suffering from gout.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12One of the jobs that we would do is to contact the DWP
0:09:12 > 0:09:16to match that information against what she had told us.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20The specific check that we asked the Department for Work and Pensions to conduct
0:09:20 > 0:09:26was to check if Jayne McKnight's husband was in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance
0:09:26 > 0:09:31and they came back and confirmed to us that he'd never been registered for DLA at all.
0:09:32 > 0:09:38So McKnight's unemployed husband is actually working as a delivery driver for a local newspaper
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and not receiving Disability Living Allowance.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44But could he still be disabled, just not claiming it?
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'There was only one way to find out.'
0:09:49 > 0:09:52We went down to his employer.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56We spoke to them at length and they confirmed details they had submitted to us
0:09:56 > 0:09:59in terms of his pay and his tax,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03but they also then went on to say that, as far as their records were concerned,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06he'd never been registered as a disabled employee with them.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12It was quite clear from the information that the employer had told us
0:10:12 > 0:10:16that Mr McKnight would never have been able to fulfil his duties
0:10:16 > 0:10:20of lifting heavy loads of newspapers and delivering them to shops
0:10:20 > 0:10:24with the disabilities described by Jayne McKnight.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29'Jayne McKnight's claims are fast beginning to unravel.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34'Her report relating to her husband has proved to be entirely false.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36'Now that one claim has been blown out of the water,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39'what about the others?
0:10:39 > 0:10:43'Was it true that she had not one but three disabled children?
0:10:46 > 0:10:50'Will Jayne McKnight's lies finally catch her out?'
0:10:50 > 0:10:53They confirmed that Jayne McKnight's children
0:10:53 > 0:10:59had never been registered with that particular childcare provider and she hadn't incurred those costs.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07'Next, it's farewell to the scroungers and hello to the saints,
0:11:07 > 0:11:12'the innocent men and women all over the UK in dire need of government help.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16'And the people who show them the way to claim what they deserve.'
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Sometimes some of the simplest decisions you might have to make
0:11:23 > 0:11:25could affect you for the rest of your life.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30Imagine you're off to the shops with your family to get a few of life's essentials.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32What could possibly go wrong?
0:11:35 > 0:11:38'Chris Ford was happy with his life.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41'He had his dream job working on super yachts
0:11:41 > 0:11:43'and would come home to his loving family.
0:11:43 > 0:11:49'But one fateful day he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.'
0:11:49 > 0:11:53I went shopping with the family. I was assaulted
0:11:53 > 0:11:59and after all the swelling and things had gone down, I didn't have any sight left.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04'Chris has been blind ever since this brutal attack.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09'One minute he had his sight, the next it was ruthlessly taken from him.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15'Through no fault of his own, this proud man who's always looked after his family
0:12:15 > 0:12:22'and stood on his own two feet could now no longer even walk down the street without help.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25'I've come to meet Chris to find out more.'
0:12:25 > 0:12:30Tell me a bit about your life. What did you do, work and things like that?
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Well, I used to work for a local boat builder.
0:12:34 > 0:12:40I did everything in the job. Laminating, carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, everything.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43- Really just got hands-on.- You're quite a family man, aren't you?
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Really, there is no other life for me.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50My family are the most important thing in my whole life.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Everybody around you is affected because they don't know what to say to you,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59they don't know how you help you, they don't know how they can comfort you.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02They can see you going down this hole
0:13:02 > 0:13:05and they can't pull you back at first
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and you do, you think to yourself, "Life's over, that's it".
0:13:08 > 0:13:13'Even living in what should've been the safe familiar haven of the family home
0:13:13 > 0:13:17'held hidden, unexpected dangers for Chris.'
0:13:17 > 0:13:21It's really hard to be living in a house that was yours
0:13:21 > 0:13:24and it feels like someone else's house sometimes.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27People put a chair in the wrong place and you walk into it
0:13:27 > 0:13:30or people leave something in the wrong place.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32You have to be careful.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36At first, it was like a prison cell, really.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41Couldn't go anywhere, couldn't do anything. You know...
0:13:41 > 0:13:45It would be quite natural for anybody who's been through what you've been through
0:13:45 > 0:13:48- to go into a state of depression. Did that happen?- Yes.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53It came to the point where I thought, "Is it really worth it?" You know?
0:13:53 > 0:14:00If it hadn't been for Brenda at the time and the thought of the kids being without me,
0:14:00 > 0:14:06then yeah, I would've probably gone down the road
0:14:06 > 0:14:09and just carried on walking into the sea and not bothered.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Yeah. Sorry.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19- Yeah.- You tell me if you want to stop, mate.- No, you're all right.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22No, but that's how black it gets, you know?
0:14:22 > 0:14:25From here, I'm in a good place now,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28but when I think back how bad it was,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31yeah, you know, you really do...
0:14:33 > 0:14:36..hit rock bottom.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40When you were at that point, money's worrying you, your life's worrying you,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45the fact that everyone's dependent on you is worrying you. How close did you get to losing your house?
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Very close. We had bailiffs
0:14:48 > 0:14:52sitting outside in white vans waiting to put the padlocks on.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57That was my lowest point, you know? I'm a very, very proud person.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01I like to think that I can stand on my own two feet.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04'But just around the corner was his very own saint.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06'Meet Carol Jenkins,
0:15:06 > 0:15:12'a home-visiting coordinator at independent charity the Dorset Blind Association.'
0:15:13 > 0:15:18My role is to visit people, make assessments
0:15:18 > 0:15:20and then look to see
0:15:20 > 0:15:24what we are able to do for that particular person.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29It may be something from our book clubs, through to dancing,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31through to one of the many activities that we run.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34'Carol runs the Lighthouse Group,
0:15:34 > 0:15:39'a social networking group for people with visual impairment,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42'and she was getting ready to welcome Chris.'
0:15:42 > 0:15:48I actually had visions of loads of old geezers, excuse my French, loads of old geezers sitting there
0:15:48 > 0:15:53all with big thick-rimmed glasses, talking about knitting circles and wanting to do bowling.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56It wasn't like that.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00It's really good to have peer support. That is one of the big things I try to push for.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03You get to know more people, it's starting to encourage your independence,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05which is a must within a family.
0:16:05 > 0:16:11'Although Carol had been able to help Chris to find his feet socially, it was not enough,
0:16:11 > 0:16:16'and now she was determined to make sure he was getting the benefit help that he needed.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21I was very surprised they weren't claiming any of the benefits they were entitled to.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26I was even more surprised to find the financial aspect that was going on in the house.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29They're a proud family, they don't like to claim for things
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and they didn't actually realise a lot of things were their right.
0:16:32 > 0:16:40'Finally, with Carol's help, Chris was able to apply for the benefits he needed and was entitled to,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42'and these benefits started to make all the difference.'
0:16:42 > 0:16:49You get a small amount of money from different places and it adds up.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54And without Carol trying to help us and put us down that road, we would have lost everything.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58It's made a huge difference to Chris and to the family,
0:16:58 > 0:17:05because previously their money coming in was very, very minimal.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08And it's just opened lots of doors for them.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13There's a lot more, I don't know, peace within the family.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17'And most importantly, the fear of losing their home was finally lifted
0:17:17 > 0:17:21'and Chris and his family could look forward to the future.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27'But the one thing that could really have put the wind back in his sails
0:17:27 > 0:17:31'was the one thing Chris was very nearly too afraid to try.'
0:17:33 > 0:17:38Carol says, "Look, we've got one of these taster sessions to go sailing."
0:17:38 > 0:17:42I said, "Oh." You know, I didn't want to do it.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46I had a passion for it before.
0:17:46 > 0:17:52And it was almost like, if I had not been able to do it...
0:17:52 > 0:17:56..then it would've been just one more thing, a nail in the coffin saying,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00"There you are, mate, told you, you're no good. That's it."
0:18:03 > 0:18:07'But Chris plucked up his courage once again to face this next challenge,
0:18:07 > 0:18:12'encouraged by the yachting charity's chairperson, Anna Moreland.'
0:18:12 > 0:18:17Sailability is an organisation that you might find all over the country,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21and basically it will be a group of volunteers who have got together
0:18:21 > 0:18:26to enable anyone with a disability to enjoy sailing.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30'As for Chris, he found that his fears were swept away.'
0:18:33 > 0:18:38The first time I went out on the boats with Sailability,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42it was... Well, it was out of the world.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46The experience you got back, there was an adrenalin buzz,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49and when I came off the water for the very, very first time,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Anna, she was standing on the pontoon on the side
0:18:52 > 0:18:55and she said I had a grin from one ear to the other.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59That really summed up how I felt inside and outside.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01- Chris, ready to tack?- Yeah.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05We saw Chris get off the boat with a huge grin on his face.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09And we've seen him ever since. He just loved it.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13He found it had given him all his freedom back that he thought he'd never do again,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16so it was an immediate win for him.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18I tell you what's very clear to me now.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21If Chris didn't have the love from his family
0:19:21 > 0:19:26and the help and assistance from Dorset Blind Association, he would be in a very bad place.
0:19:26 > 0:19:32But I'll tell you what, that man down there has got the biggest smile I've ever seen on anybody's face,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34and he's enjoying life to the full.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38- See you, guys!- Take care! Bye!
0:19:42 > 0:19:44'Back in the world of the scroungers,
0:19:44 > 0:19:49'the fraud team at HMRC are closing in on the case of Jayne McKnight.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53'She has been claiming to have a part-time job, a disabled husband
0:19:53 > 0:19:56'who's out of work, and three disabled children to care for,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00'which means she's happily banking nearly £30,000 a year
0:20:00 > 0:20:05'in working tax credits, including the childcare element.'
0:20:07 > 0:20:13..which I understand is equivalent to a gross annual salary of £40,000 a year.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17'But the investigators suspect she's up to no good.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21'They need to find out whether her children really are disabled,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24'and whether she's entitled to the money she's been receiving.
0:20:26 > 0:20:32'It was time for HMRC to dig deeper. Back to their undercover operator.'
0:20:32 > 0:20:39We contacted the DWP to see if any claims had ever been received in respect of the four children.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42They confirmed that they had submitted claims.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47However, no claim had ever been paid for any of the children.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50'And why should that matter?'
0:20:50 > 0:20:54If someone isn't registered as disabled with the Department for Work and Pensions,
0:20:54 > 0:21:00then that disqualifies them from claiming any subsequent tax credits related to that.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07So not only is her husband able bodied, it seems there's nothing wrong with her kids, either.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10It looks like McKnight has been telling a few porky-pies.
0:21:10 > 0:21:16'Just because her claim that her husband wasn't working was false,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21'it didn't mean she wasn't actually working herself. Or did it?'
0:21:21 > 0:21:27Because Jayne had said she was working, we started to look at the HMRC PAYE systems.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And we couldn't find any trace of any tax being paid for Jayne.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35So we approached the employers that she had stated on her claim form.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40'But surely there'd be some tax returns to show for all that work.'
0:21:40 > 0:21:45As a result of our checks, we discovered that Jayne McKnight hadn't actually paid any tax
0:21:45 > 0:21:49for the whole period for which she was claiming tax credits.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Subsequently we went out to visit these employers
0:21:52 > 0:21:57and they conformed that Jayne McKnight had never worked for them.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01'McKnight was able to claim working tax credit to top up her wages
0:22:01 > 0:22:04'from her low-paid, part-time job.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08'This also meant that she was eligible for the childcare element of working tax credit,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12'to help her pay for childcare costs while she worked.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17'Now, if the job was bogus, what about the childminder?'
0:22:17 > 0:22:21We contacted them, visited them, checked their records
0:22:21 > 0:22:26and they confirmed Jayne McKnight's children had never been registered with that childcare provider,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29and she hadn't incurred the costs she claimed to have done.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33'This was the final piece of evidence the team needed.
0:22:33 > 0:22:40'Incredibly, up to this point, Jayne McKnight had been swindling the system for eight years.'
0:22:40 > 0:22:45- Why didn't you catch her earlier? - The system was one of pay now, check later.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Now we would certainly catch her out a lot sooner than we did,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51if she even got any payment in the first place.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Would it be fair to say you allow too much trust with people?
0:22:54 > 0:23:00I think the system was all about getting the money to people who really needed it when they needed it,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05which was straight away, and maybe, yes, we did put too much trust in people.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08But that doesn't make it right to commit a fraud.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13'It was time to arrest McKnight and confront her with the shameful truth of her deception.'
0:23:13 > 0:23:16SIREN WAILS
0:23:16 > 0:23:19A team of officers went along to the house
0:23:19 > 0:23:23to arrest her and also to conduct the search of the premises.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27We were looking for signs of wealth, effectively,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30to see what she could have spent all this money on.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35Other than the obligatory plasma TV, children's game consoles,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39we didn't find any obvious signs of wealth.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Now, 112 grand must have gone somewhere,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46so what had this greedy so-and-so done with all that cash?
0:23:47 > 0:23:51'All was about to be revealed when the hunt for evidence homed in on the internet.'
0:23:53 > 0:23:57We conducted some social networking checks and discovered that Jayne
0:23:57 > 0:24:01had actually been going to see lots of boy bands.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05'And she was gallivanting all over the country to do it,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08'even making sure she got the pictures to prove it.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15'To the boy bands she idolised, like JLS, Westlife and Boyzone,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19'Jayne McKnight was just another fan.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22'There is no way they could have known she was a fraudster,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26'and neither did the social networking sites she used to show her photos.'
0:24:26 > 0:24:32It's fair to say, in the absence of any obvious signs of wealth in Jayne McKnight's house,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36what the tax credit claims have enabled her to do is effectively act as a groupie,
0:24:36 > 0:24:42following these boy bands around the country, which is no cheap thing to do.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47So this poor, deserving mother of a disabled family
0:24:47 > 0:24:52has actually been hobnobbing with the stars at the expense of you and I, the taxpayer.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57And then she's been rubbing our noses in it on the internet. Unbelievable.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02'Time for her to face the music.'
0:25:02 > 0:25:05In her interview under caution, Jayne McKnight,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07when faced with all the evidence put before her
0:25:07 > 0:25:10admitted that her children weren't disabled,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14her husband wasn't disabled,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17that she'd never worked for the companies she claimed she had
0:25:17 > 0:25:20and that her husband had, in fact always been employed,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and not unemployed as she'd claimed back in 2004.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29'But just as it seemed she was coming clean,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33'the team uncovered a thieving twist to this fraudster's past.'
0:25:35 > 0:25:42Jayne had a previous offence on her record for committing tax credit fraud and income support fraud.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47She was sentenced to seven months but this was suspended.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51And it is noticeable, actually, that she started committing tax credit fraud
0:25:51 > 0:25:54with HM Revenue and Customs some year or so later.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58'Unbelievable. But I've a feeling this benefit thief
0:25:58 > 0:26:02'is about to get the comeuppance that even she won't be able to ignore.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07'It was time for Jayne McKnight to have her day in court.
0:26:09 > 0:26:15'The jury heard that taking into account both the wages of her husband
0:26:15 > 0:26:22'and the amounts fraudulently claimed in tax credits by Jayne McKnight between 2003 and 2011,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27'the McKnight household pocketed a staggering £250,000.
0:26:29 > 0:26:35'In May 2011, Jayne McKnight pleaded guilty to benefit fraud
0:26:35 > 0:26:39'totalling £112,147
0:26:39 > 0:26:43'one of the highest amounts of individual fraud ever seen.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47'She was sentenced to two years in jail.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50'Charges were not brought against McKnight's husband
0:26:50 > 0:26:53'as there was no evidence that he knew what she was up to.'
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Tax credits are designed to help the most needy in society,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02and what Jayne McKnight has done is steal money from the public purse
0:27:02 > 0:27:06and the government will not tolerate people who commit fraud such as this.
0:27:09 > 0:27:17Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd