Episode 7 Saints and Scroungers

Every year, billions of pounds of our taxes are spent on those in genuine need of financial help.

-'This money provides a lifeline for people who deserve our support.'

-Everything's crumbling around me.

But unfortunately, about a billion goes on lining the pockets

of those who aren't entitled to it.

This is just pure greed and nothing else.

'But if you're trying to cheat the system, you're being watched.'

We knew where to look straightaway.

Welcome to the world of Saints And Scroungers.

'Saints And Scroungers shines a light on the good and the not so good

'in Britain's welfare system. On one side, you have those who need a hand up,

'and on the other, those who just want a hand-out.

'It's a battle that's being fought every day,

'investigators fighting to bring fraudsters to justice

'and saints fighting to make sure people in need get what they're entitled to.'

Coming up on today's show - a housing benefit cheat

tries to rip off taxpayers with over a decade of deceit.

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jackie Crane's partner

was living with her at the claim address.

And a family man gets a hand to turn his life around

after suddenly losing his sight.

My life now...

..million times better.

The great thing about the welfare system

is that there's a pot of money there for you

if things go wrong unexpectedly,

like a relationship breaking down,

finding yourself as a single mum with no income

to support you and your family.

That's the situation one mother from Croydon found herself in.

Jackie Crane was raising her daughter alone,

and struggled to pay the bills,

so she turned to the local council for help

in the form of housing and council tax benefit.

She filled out the forms, as anyone claiming benefits has to do,

and asked for help paying the rent on her flat.

Why shouldn't she? Thousands of people just like her

do exactly the same.

Her claim was successful, and over the next ten years,

she received living costs and allowances

stretching into the tens of thousands.

But in 2009, out of the blue,

the Department of Work and Pensions received an anonymous phone call

suggesting things might not be quite as they seem.

The precise details, along with a mountain of paperwork,

landed on the desk of anti-fraud officer Gail Campbell.

It all took place in Croydon,

so that's where I've come to find out what was going on.

So a lot of your leads,

your ideas about who you should be investigating,

come from tip-offs from the public. How does that work?

Well, anybody can phone a fraud hotline

and they can report whatever they see or whatever they think they see.

Presumably, you can't just look at that as fact.

What's going through your mind when you look at one of the these tip-offs?

Well, of course, it's not fact until it's been proven in any way,

so we would look at the allegation and break it down.

Tell me what you saw when you first saw this tip-off about Jackie.

What we received on this lady was that she lives with her partner.

A description was given of the lady and her partner.

So just to be clear, the tip-off claimed that

Jackie wasn't a single mum and that she was living with a man.

While living with someone isn't a crime,

if you're claiming to be single and get benefits because of your status,

it's quite a different story.

What's the problem with that, from a benefits point of view?

From a benefits point of view, if he is living at that address,

he needs to be declared,

because his income needs to be taken into consideration.

-So it's not just a case of investigating her activity?

-No.

We need to investigate the partner's activity, as well,

and find out as much information as we can

that brings him back to Jackie Crane's address.

Or on the off-chance that he does have an address of his own,

that we can be satisfied that that is exactly where he lives.

So to find out whether she's been doing something wrong,

-you need to find out what he's been doing.

-Yeah, basically.

With both Jackie and her alleged live-in fella to investigate,

Gail knew that the first task

was to go back through ten years of paperwork

with a fine-toothed comb. Sorry about that, Gail.

Jackie Crane had been claiming housing benefit

from that address since 1999.

So, basically, from the first week

that she was given the tenancy to the property.

She continued to claim benefit based on the lone parent income support

and there was never any breaks in her claim.

Over ten application forms and three visits,

Jackie Crane's always declared herself to be a single person.

So, if Jackie's the one signing the benefit forms,

she's the one who'll face the music

if it's discovered that anything a little bit dodgy is going on.

But, so far, all we know is

she's been claiming she's a single mum for over ten years.

And she could well have been.

Who's to say that this tip-off that she's living with a man is true?

Gail's got to give her the benefit of the doubt, excuse the pun.

As she's claiming to be on her own,

it made sense to start by looking up details of her children.

As soon as Gail got her mitts on the records,

something leapt out at her.

We looked at the birth certificates of both the children,

and both birth certificates showed the same father

and that he had declared on the birth certificate

that he lived at the same address as Jackie Crane.

Hmm. Now, the first thing that's a bit odd about this

is that Jackie only ever told the council she had one child.

Maybe she forgot about the other one. Not only that,

it seems the kids' dad claims he's living with them all.

Now, that's definitely not what she told the council. And guess what.

The name of the dad,

well, it matches that given by the anonymous caller.

So it looks like someone is either mixed up

or Jackie's been a bit flexible with the truth.

Time for Gail to dig a little bit deeper

to find out if Dad was definitely living there full-time.

The employer only held one address for the partner

and that was the Effingham Road address,

the same address that the benefit was being claimed on.

It showed that he declared that as his home address

from October 1999.

OK, but even if he's living there,

they could still be entitled to benefits,

unless he's bringing in a healthy wage to the family.

The information in relation to his wages

showed that he was earning quite a substantial salary.

Well, if this were true, then Jackie would be committing a blatant fraud,

one which costs the public purse a whopping £1 billion a year.

It could still be the case that Dad isn't actually living there,

but just registered there for some reason.

One way to tell is to look at his bank records,

and find out where he goes shopping.

When we looked at Jackie Crane's partner's bank statements,

we could see that he'd made a lot of transactions on Mitcham Road in Croydon,

and Mitcham Road is really close to the claim address in Effingham Road.

A-ha.

And he was going into the local shops, which are here,

and using the ATM machine,

but he was also making purchases in the shops, as well.

All the evidence is now pointing to the fact that Jackie is living with,

or at least near, her man.

And it wasn't long before the investigation

revealed something else.

All his personal correspondences were to be addressed

through the claim address at Effingham Road.

That included his bank statements, his employment details,

his payslips, anything to do with any finances, any loans.

Virtually everything that he had was registered back to Jackie Crane's address.

It's not looking good for Jackie.

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jackie Crane's partner was living with her at the claim address.

If Gail needed any more convincing she was hot on the tail of a benefit cheat,

back in the office, her years of investigative experience uncovered

a suspicious gym membership payment

coming out of Jackie's other half's bank account.

She wasted no time in giving them a call.

They provided us with information that showed that

that membership belonged to Jackie Crane

and that the partner was paying that

through his own bank account as a direct debit.

Now, I'm no Sherlock,

but birth certificate, bank account, employment records,

all listing one man at one address which also happens to be

the same address as a single mum living on benefits.

You do start to wonder if that tip-off had some substance.

Gail and the fraud investigations team thought the same,

so they invited Jackie in to see what she had to say for herself.

At the first interview under caution,

the allegation was put to Jackie Crane

that she had been living at the claim address

with her partner and that her partner worked.

She denied that allegation and was quite taken aback by it.

She did say that she had an on-off relationship

with the person that we mentioned at the interview,

but that he didn't live with her.

It seemed Jackie had an answer for everything.

And you know what? It all sounded very plausible.

But can Gail put the case to bed?

Was this like the crowning glory?

Well, I did get a bit excited, I have to say.

'Or will Jackie's stonewalling prove too much to handle?'

She didn't have much to say in response to that,

but she made a few faces.

'OK, now it's farewell to our fraudsters,

'and hello to the people that we call saints,

'those in society who help others in genuine need,

'but who are sometimes too proud

'or don't even know how to claim what's rightfully theirs.'

If you're sighted, it can be very easy to take for granted

all the things you can see, whether it's a beautiful garden

or the faces of your own children.

But imagine one morning if you woke up

and all of that had gone.

The shutters, overnight, had come down on your world.

'In December 2011, life for 42-year-old Michael Haley

'and his family changed forever.'

I just woke up one morning and I just couldn't see.

I couldn't make out anything. Nothing at all.

He just stood in the kitchen and said,

"I just can't see."

'It all began in the summer of 2011 when Michael started to notice

'that the sight in one of his eyes wasn't as good as it used to be.'

It was actually the vision in my left eye didn't feel right.

It just slowly got worse and worse and worse.

'It wasn't long before it began to affect Michael's ability

'to do his job as a support worker for a local charity.'

I was doing a lot of travelling about,

travelling to different areas in the northeast,

supporting profoundly deaf people,

whether it's to support them shopping,

doing a bit of life skills with them, like cooking.

And then I started having problems with light during the night.

It was very painful.

'Michael's vision got so bad, he had no choice but to go on sick leave,

'desperately hoping that his sight would improve.'

'On Boxing Day, 2011, he woke up and was completely unable to see.'

'This footage is the last time Michael saw his daughter.

'And even then, he could only make out vague shapes.'

The main thing was not seeing my daughter and my wife,

physically not seeing them again.

Cos it was like someone had just cut a line and that was it.

And it was really...really horrible.

It was like a hole, really,

that we just fell in this hole

and we're trying to get back out.

'Michael was immediately admitted to hospital,

'where the doctors desperately tried to find out the cause.'

They did absolutely loads of tests and then they came back to say that my eyes were absolutely normal.

His brain is seeing the information and his mind is ignoring it.

Consequently, he's not aware of it, so he's attentionally blind.

I asked him the question, I said,

"Is there any guarantees that he may get some sight back?"

No guarantees whatsoever.

'Just when Michael needed it most, along came someone who could help.

'He was visited in hospital by a lady from Action For Blind People.'

We're a charity that provides practical and emotional support

for people who are blind and partially-sighted.

Will I ever work? Will I be on benefits?

At the time, I didn't know. It was really scary times.

When we first met him, he obviously was lost

and he was wondering what was out there for him now.

You didn't know whether you would have enough money

to feed the family, basically.

Pay the bills, pay the rent.

It was critical we worked with Michael to ensure that

him and his family were financially secure

that they could plan, they could budget,

and they knew what was coming in, what was going out.

As Michael had effectively been made redundant,

he was entitled to a payment from his old job.

Charlotte worked with them to make sure that Michael got

what he was owed. But he knew that wasn't going to last him long.

I was quite worried.

Are we going to have enough money to buy nappies for her at the time?

Stuff like that. Just things like that.

How are we going to live day-to-day?

'Charlotte needed to ensure when Michael's cash ran out,

'she'd sorted him out with money he was due from the government

'to help him cope with his blindness and carry him through till he could get another job.'

Having the money, the physical money that they knew they could go to the shop

and buy what they needed, that they could feed their little girl,

that they could pay the bills,

you know, they're not thinking, "Can we put the heating on today?"

'Charlotte's worked wonders for the family,

'helping Michael with his job and a smooth transition onto benefits

'to keep a roof over his young family's head.

'It wasn't the only aspect of his life that needed to change.'

He's always been independent.

And always wanted to do for other people.

'Being able to get round by himself

'was one of the things that was most important to Michael,

'so the charity arranged for stick training sessions

'with local charity My Guide helper, Bob Nunn.'

We identify routes into the community,

that are going to be helpful to them.

And, erm, we help them to learn those routes,

with the intention that they'll be able to do it themselves in the end.

The consequence of that, it'll give him much more independence.

'Michael is determined not to be a burden on others,

'and, after six long months, all his hard work has paid off.'

Once I'd done my training with the cane,

it opened up my life.

It's like an extension of your arm.

He's now well able to go to the pub himself.

And it gives him an opportunity to spend a bit of time on his own.

'It's taken the whole family pulling together.

'Even his three-year-old daughter has been helping out Dad where she can.'

-What colour is it, Faye?

-White.

I'm no longer thinking, you know, I'm not going to see her,

but I can feel her, I can feel how curly her hair is.

You know, I've got a rough idea in my head of what she looks like.

'With help from Action For Blind People,

'Michael is now taking steps towards reaching his ultimate dream,

'getting back to work.

'And he's doing this by learning how to use computers designed specifically for blind people.'

I'm striving to get back into work.

And nothing's going to stop me if I can help it.

'No-one should have to go through what Michael's been through,

'but, with help, he and his family now know there's a way forward.'

SHE GIGGLES

I can't put in words,

it's absolutely amazing the job that they do.

They're invaluable, the information and the support that you get off them

is absolutely invaluable.

Michael and his family have really picked themselves up after a challenging time.

And with the help and support they've received,

he can now look forward to a more independent and brighter future.

'Now it's back to our scroungers, where the spotlight of suspicion

'has fallen on a single mother living in Croydon.'

This particular case was referred to us

through the Department for Work and Pensions.

And they had received an anonymous referral

that suggested that Jackie Crane

had a partner living with her and that he worked.

'If true, this would mean that Jackie Crane had been fraudulently claiming benefits

'that were based on the fact she was a single mother living on her own for the last ten years.

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind

that Jackie Crane's partner was living with her at the claim address.

'Gail brought Jackie in for an interview under caution,

'and asked her why her man was regularly using the cash point

'and shop just round the corner from where she lived

'if he wasn't living there.'

She responded to this assumption by saying that,

of course he would be using the shops close to the claim address

because he visited her and the children most nights.

'OK. Being a caring dad and regularly seeing your kids,

'well, that's a good thing, right?

'But if he wasn't living there, instead only visiting most nights,

'then why had he told both his bank and his boss that he was living at that address?'

She gave us an excuse that she allowed him to use her address,

and, in fact, all of his payslips

and any correspondence relating to the employment would've been sent to her address,

because it was an address that he could trust.

She did suggest that he still lived at his mother's address,

which wasn't too far away from the claim address,

but it was far enough.

'It's an explanation that's quite plausible,

'but Gail's gut instinct was still telling her

'she was hot on the heels of a cunning benefit fraudster.

'So she decided to have a little chat with Jackie's boyfriend's mum.'

Well, she came for her interview

and she answered the questions we had in relation to her son.

And what she told us was that her son had not lived with her

and in fact he left the house when he was 18 years old.

'But, hold on, Jackie clearly stated under caution that he lived with his mother.

'With cracks beginning to emerge in the story,

'it was time for Gail to get Jackie back in for further questioning.'

The second interview was a brief recap of what she'd said previously.

We then made her aware that we'd spoken to her partner's mother

and that we had a written statement from the mother.

The mother had denied that he had lived with her

throughout the years that Jackie and he had been a couple.

She didn't have much to say in response to that, but she made a few faces.

-'Jackie's lips might be sealed...'

-No comment.

'..but with Gail convinced she was concealing the truth,

'she turned up the heat.'

Have a look at that and tell me what you think.

'And eventually Jackie began to crack.'

Different to what she said at the first interview

was that he did contribute towards the food for the family.

And he would take them shopping for food

and he would pay for that.

That was slightly different to what she said at the first interview,

where she said that he didn't contribute at all to the household,

that she paid the bills for everything.

'The evidence was too much for Jackie.

'Confronted with a comprehensive paper trail of the couple's finances

'and statements from witnesses, she back-tracked even further.'

She made that quite clear, that he would stay,

he would stay occasionally and for no more than three nights a week.

Jackie Crane never made any enquiries

to find out whether or not she needed to declare the partner,

even though he was only there for supposedly three days a week.

'Gail was convinced she had her on the ropes.

'But Jackie still wasn't backing down.

'The investigation had hit a bit of a stalemate.'

-So you've interviewed under caution three times.

-Yes.

But at that stage, things still aren't feeling right for you. You've still got suspicions.

Yeah. It's, erm, a situation

where we've got Jackie Crane telling us one thing

and her partner's mother telling us a different version.

So we still don't know where he lives 100 percent,

we've had nothing to prove evidentially

that he could be at another address. Everything that we had

pointed to him living at Jackie Crane's address.

You've got to decide at some point whether you've got a clear-enough picture,

-enough evidence to take it to a court, to a jury, for them to decide on this.

-Yeah.

'Despite Jackie not 'fessing up, Gail was still confident she'd crack the case.

'But with all the benefit claims in Jackie's name,

'Gail had no charges to pin on the partner.

'She raced ahead and summoned Jackie Crane to court...

'..for a total of 13 counts of making false statements

'in order to claim housing and council tax benefit

'to the tune of around 47 grand.'

That must be quite nerve-racking for you.

Because, I mean, you spent a lot of time working on these investigations

and then to get to the stage where you can finally take some action,

you've got to get your soldiers lined up, haven't you?

Well, you have to be sure of your facts

and base it purely on facts.

You can't make your personal thoughts come into what you prepare for court.

So it's purely based on evidence

and what you produce as part of your evidence to the court,

and to any jury, should it need to go to trial.

So you've got to put all your suspicions and prejudices and all of that stuff to one side

and just look at the facts that you've got.

'Despite all her hard work and meticulous investigation,

'Gail was about to have the wind taken out of her sails.

'When the case got to the Magistrates' Court,

'they decided the fraud was so serious it was passed up the ladder to Crown Court,

'which meant a bit of a wait before the case could be heard.'

It must be hugely frustrating,

because you've got everything sorted out

and the system is pushing you further back and back

to actually when we discover the truth and justice is served.

That's right. And also, you have to bear in mind

that when you do give your evidence,

her barrister looks at the delays

and tries to make it look like

the delays have been caused unfairly to her.

And they do play on that a little bit.

So it's always good to get your matter in court and dealt with very quickly.

'With the potential for the case to slip away,

'Gail knew that anxious months lay ahead.

'Rather than resting on her laurels, she continued hunting for further proof,

'when she discovered Jackie Crane had a public profile on a social network site.

'A rookie mistake, as not only could it be read by anyone,

'but what Jackie had written was about to land her right in it.'

On her Facebook page, she'd made some declarations

that her and her long-term boyfriend had split up.

And there were two comments on there

that made me wonder what had been going on,

and she'd changed her status to single,

which was another indication that something dramatic had happened.

'But Gail didn't stop there.

'She decided to check bank statements for the now ex-boyfriend

'to see if there were any changes to his spending patterns around the time of the break-up.

'Was she about to find the evidence she needed

'to finally put this case to bed?'

He, within a month, told his employer,

he's told his bank, he's opened a new bank account, he's taken a tenancy,

he now pays his way outside the borough.

-So he'd moved out.

-He'd gone.

But he was in before, which is the crucial bit.

Well, yeah, this was the first time that I had ever seen

anything that indicated a change in circumstances

in relation to her and him being a couple.

-Was this like the crowning glory?

-Well, I did get a bit excited.

I have to say, I did get a bit excited.

'I'll say. With the new evidence and the other stuff Gail had uncovered,

'surely now Jackie Crane wouldn't have a leg to stand on?'

When Jackie Crane gave her evidence at court,

again, she maintained that her partner had never lived with her.

'Despite a witness statement from a friend corroborating Jackie's story,

'it didn't take the jury long to bring in their verdict.'

It was quite evident that the jury didn't believe a word that she said, because they found her guilty...

..unanimously.

'So Gail had been right all along.

'And her hard work and perseverance paid off in the end.

'After a decade of defrauding the system,

'Jackie Crane was found guilty of conning Croydon Council

'out of over £47,000 in housing and council tax benefits.

'And on top of that, she was also found guilty

'of cheating the Department of Work and Pensions out of just shy of 21 grand in income support payments.

'For that lot, she was given 16 months behind bars.'

So how did you feel then when that verdict came through?

It's job satisfaction at the end of something when the jury agree

and somebody is rightfully punished for what they've done.

Her status update was one of the things

that finally nailed this scheming mum.

Well, here's a new status update for Jackie Crane.

-HE TYPES

-Currently detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.