Choudhry/Cure Retts/Quizmaster Saints and Scroungers

In the UK, most of us work hard and pay our taxes...

I get very angry about people cheating,

because that is what it is, isn't it?

..and we generally agree that it is right that

a proportion of what you earn should go into a pot that's there

to help you, should you need it.

But that money doesn't always find its way to the right people.

-I think lying to gain the benefit is so wrong.

-It's awful.

There are big changes taking place in the welfare system

here in the UK.

And now it's more important than ever

that the right help gets to the right people.

This the world of Saints And Scroungers.

Coming up, the scroungers out to fleece the system -

a woman of many guises claiming a small fortune in benefits

who was working the whole time...

They then produced a photo taken from their records which

showed that these passport photos were all one and the same

and the person in their employment photo was also the same person.

..and those in need of support -

a family are given the news that their baby daughter has

an incurable and debilitating illness.

The future is very uncertain for Edie.

She's four years old and she already has scoliosis of the spine.

Now, we all know that life can have its ups and downs

and one of the downs can be when a relationship ends badly.

While most of us get by with a little help from our friends,

some people need more than just a shoulder to cry on.

They need outside support.

Meet 37-year-old Aliyah Abbasi,

who lives in a flat in Mason Close

in the Borough of Richmond, West London.

When her relationship broke down in 2005,

she began suffering from depression

which prevented her from working,

so she relied on benefits from the state to get by.

Miss Aliyah Abbasi certainly presented herself

as a deserving case.

She was a single person

living on her own

with no income, she wasn't in employment,

so on that basis,

she was perceived to be entitled

to receive Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

Aliyah Abbasi received just over £100 a week

from Richmond Council for Housing and Council Tax Benefit

as well as Income Support from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Richmond is one of the smallest boroughs in London

but is also one of the most affluent.

Despite all the wealth,

in 2012 it paid out £78 million

in Housing and Council Tax Benefit

and, like all boroughs,

it had its fair share of fraudulent claims

to investigate.

For Richmond, last year alone,

approximately £1 million in overpayments

was identified by the Fraud Investigation Team,

which is a considerable amount of money for such a small London borough.

And it was a referral from the Department for Work and Pensions

that highlighted concerns about

Aliyah Abbasi's claim

and kick-started a joint investigation

involving fraud officers at the DWP and Richmond Council.

Mark Simpson was one of the lead investigators.

The case began with, er,

data-matching records

being matched with data from

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs

into people who are working

against those who are claiming benefit.

We had the comparison of the PAYE records

and the National Insurance records

for a Miss Abbasi

which showed she'd worked for a company called Alpha Medical

for four months

and a company called Connaught PLC for three years.

The Department for Work and Pensions' data-matching process

had unearthed a big potential problem with Aliyah Abbasi's claim,

which they wasted no time in checking out.

What's unusual is the fact

that we had someone called Abbasi with the same date of birth

and National Insurance number claiming benefits

as the person who was working.

We sent enquiries to both companies, asking for details of

wages and bank account records

and any identity records that they hold

for that particular person who had worked for them.

When investigators got replies back from the companies,

the information they provided

was enlightening in more ways than one.

Connaught PLC confirmed Miss Abbasi's wage records.

But also confirmed she'd originally started work

as Robina Aliyah Abbasi

but during the course of her employment, she changed her name

by deed poll to Aliyah Jameel Choudhry,

but known as Robina.

She told us she had changed her name by deed poll

roughly a month before she finished the employment with them.

Let me get this straight.

Aliyah Abbasi had been claiming benefits

but at the same time had been working

and using another name, Choudhry.

Whatever she was calling herself,

on paper it looked like she's been ripping off

the benefits system for at least four years.

We started making further enquiries with colleagues

in other government departments and local authorities.

We then discovered Abbasi

had made a claim for Housing Benefit from Richmond Local Authority.

We got in contact with them and invited them

to join us in a joint investigation.

Alix Wilson at Richmond Council

had a team of investigators working

on the case, but due to the sensitive nature of his job,

this one wishes to remain anonymous.

It was quite damning evidence.

We had bank details,

we had credit checks that showed she had obtained these accounts

that she hadn't declared to us

and we had the two periods of employment.

Given the quality of the evidence the Department for Work and Pensions had obtained,

I believed it was necessary

to carry out a joint interview under caution with the officer

from the Department for Work and Pensions.

It was time for Aliyah Abbasi to explain

her seemingly undeclared periods of employment.

That's exactly what she did.

In the interview under caution with Miss Aliyah Abbasi,

we showed her the evidence

the Department for Work and Pensions had obtained from the employers.

She categorically denied ever working for these companies

and she suggested maybe her identity had been stolen

and that somebody was actually using her identity to work for these companies.

She even volunteered to attend an identity parade where these

two employers could attend

in a bid that they would not identify her

as being the person that was employed.

A lot of the time, people crack in their interview under caution,

faced with the evidence put before them.

But not Abbasi. Cool as a cucumber, she denied everything,

then there's the defence of her identity being stolen.

It does happen.

The question investigators asked was,

had it happened in this case?

ID fraud was a plausible explanation,

but by the end of the interview,

investigators had evidence that Aliyah was sometimes

economical with the truth.

I remembered earlier in the day that a colleague

had seen Miss Aliyah Abbasi arrive

driving a silver BMW and parked it in the car park

at the Civic Centre.

I asked her if she drove at all,

in a bid to get a copy of her photo ID...

..to which she replied that she didn't drive.

When I pushed her why she was seen exiting a BMW that

had no L-plates in the Civic Centre car park,

her demeanour changed completely.

She became very flustered, very short in her answers,

and started to lose her cool completely.

Her reaction to the questions around her car

led us to suspect that maybe

she wasn't telling us the truth.

At this point in time,

we had an Abbasi who was working and claiming

and possibly also using another identity.

Further enquiries had to be made.

If Aliyah had been working whilst claiming benefits,

she could have stolen tens of thousands of pounds

from Richmond Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mark's team decided it was time to look in detail

at the various names Aliyah Abbasi was using.

The passport service provided us

with the information that her original application

for a passport in May, 1994

in the name of Aliyah Abbasi...

and the passport service also informed us she had changed her name

to Robina Kahn.

The investigators checked registry records

and these showed Kahn was the now-single

Aliyah Abbasi's married name.

But those weren't the only passports she had.

We then discovered from the passport service

that Aliyah had changed her name again

and had a passport issued in July, 2010.

This time to Aliyah Jameel Choudhry.

So, passport IDs in the three names, Abbasi, Kahn and Choudhry.

And work records in two of these names.

We'll find out later who this mysterious woman really was

and whether she was indeed a serial fraudster.

There were some real issues around the identity of this woman.

Is it someone else who has used her identity to claim benefits and work?

For now it's farewell to the scroungers trying to nab what

they can from the welfare state and hello to our saints -

people whose aim it is to make life a little bit

easier for those in need.

When working mum Claire White and her husband Danny discovered

their second child would be a little girl, they were overjoyed.

And after the birth everything seemed absolutely fine.

In the first few months of Edie's life there was nothing to

indicate she would have any problems.

But as time progressed there were signs that something wasn't

quite right.

She wasn't crawling or pulling herself up like most

one-year-olds would do but we were told

kids reach their milestones at different times and not to worry.

And as far as the doctors were concerned,

Edie was a healthy little girl.

But Claire and her husband Danny still had their doubts.

'I've come to find out what it was like for them during that time.

'Can you tell me how you first'

noticed that Edie was not

quite the girl you thought she was going to be, if you like?

When she got to about a year and a half, 18 months,

something wasn't right. We went to the health visitor and she said,

"If you're that concerned I will come and do an assessment."

And when she did she said she presented

herself as more of a nine-month-old baby than a 18-, 19-month-old child.

But they said it was severe global developmental delay with ED.

Is that related to a particular illness?

That's the kind of general umbrella they give to children

who don't have a diagnosis.

It was hard news to take in and what's more it wasn't really

a diagnosis.

They just had a phrase used to describe Edie's present condition.

We didn't really have any idea what would be the matter with Edie.

We just wanted some answers or some indication of what it might be.

So Edie had to go through a series of tests

and assessments to find out exactly what was affecting her development.

Edie was having startling movements we thought might be seizures

so we were referred to a neurologist.

Literally two days before we saw him we happened to be watching TV

and there was a little girl and Danny and I looked at each other

and said, "That little girl looks just like Edie."

And when the parents said this is so and so

and she's got Rett syndrome, we googled it and I just wish I hadn't.

It was the worst thing ever.

When they did see the neurologist two days later,

they finally got the diagnosis.

When we went to neurology and he said,

"I think Edie is presenting as having Rett syndrome," it was the worst.

Broke our hearts.

Rett syndrome is a severe neurological disorder.

It happens almost exclusively to girls.

It happens early on, between 6-18 months typically.

It starts with a regression, so your daughter develops normally

and then all of a sudden begins to lose her skills.

Loses the ability to use her hands, the ability to speak,

sometimes even the ability to swallow.

Most girls lose the ability to walk if they've gained that.

And so basically you're sitting there watching your child

turn back into a newborn.

Within that split second where you've got a diagnosis

of Rett's, how did your perspective then change

from that moment onwards?

I must admit, when she actually did say,

"I'm sure you're aware of why you're here.

"Edie has got Rett's." That was it.

I cried my eyes out. It was devastating.

It's devastating to your life.

She's four years old and already has scoliosis for the spine.

She has no purposeful hand movements.

She can't walk, she can't talk.

Rett syndrome has stolen

all her development.

Edie's diagnosis affects me in many ways.

Normal day-to-day life, I can carry on,

but as soon as you dwell on it

or think about it too much,

it becomes quite hard.

We spend most days waiting for another bombshell.

Something to happen.

It's heartbreaking.

It wasn't just the emotional strain the couple had to cope with.

They started to find it difficult financially

after Claire decided she couldn't continue to be a working mum.

I couldn't go to work and do shiftwork

and come home and look after

Edie as well.

It was too hard and too stressful.

Despite the care she was getting from her parents,

Edie was regressing at an alarming rate.

She was really withdrawn,

she wouldn't make eye contact,

she wasn't interested in any toys

or anything at all, really.

She didn't like physical contact,

she didn't even really like cuddles,

which is heartbreaking as a parent when you just want a cuddle

from your little girl.

She was just a little, tiny, quiet

person with nothing

behind her eyes.

She'd just look at the ground

and wouldn't even acknowledge you were there.

The immediate need was to get Edie

back in touch with the world.

Following her assessment, she was referred by a health visitor

to an organisation called Portage which helps

children who have problems with their development.

It was a possible lifeline for Edie

and her parents.

Our service is very much play-based.

So it's learning through play.

When I first met the family it was obvious

from the background information and seeing Edie

that she had significant complex needs.

She wasn't moving at all.

She could sit unsupported

but wasn't doing any personal skills,

wasn't attempting to feed herself,

showing no awareness of toilet needs, that sort of thing.

Sharon had a short and long term strategy

to work on Edie's physical and cognitive abilities

but she was going to need Danny and Claire's help

for her play therapy to be effective.

Edie saw Sharon every two weeks

and it completely changed Edie's life and completely changed our lives.

Because it taught us

how to engage Edie on a completely different level.

Not just like a mother level or caring, feeding,

food-provider, sleep-provider, nappy-changer provider.

It was kind of tapping in and playing with her that will help

promote her skills that she lost.

Sharon's worked with loads of kids over the years.

All of whom have different responses to play therapy.

I want to find out how Edie's getting on.

Are you able to notice differences in Edie from

the time that you spent with her?

We did a lot of sensory-based activities.

That seemed to make a difference.

One of the most memorable occasions I remember was

we were just building up boxes and putting a little figure on the top

and I was knocking it down.

And Edie didn't seem as though she was conscious particularly of what

we were doing.

And then I put her hand near it and she pushed it over and laughed.

I think for Claire that was quite a moment.

It was wet eyes all round.

And she just carried on doing it.

And a couple of weeks later, when I brought the same activity,

she'd obviously remembered and I think that was a big leap

forward that we realised she could retain things we'd done before.

So we were able to move her on in that way.

Sharon was getting through to Edie

and it was the progress that her parents had been praying for.

Once Sharon had started working with Edie, we could see the benefits.

Just to come home

and see Edie learning the smallest of skills is just fantastic.

With Sharon's support, things were definitely moving

in the right direction but the couple still had to think about

the long-term support that Edie would need.

I knew there were such things as benefits.

To be honest, we partly didn't want to do it because it was a...

It's silly to say a pride thing but it just... Did we really need it?

You kind of... You don't want to take money but Sharon said,

you know, having a disabled kid is not cheap.

You've got appointments to get to,

there's equipment to get and she's right.

With Sharon's help, Claire discovered how the benefit system

could and should help Edie.

Sharon recommended that we go for the Disability Living Allowance

and Carer's Allowance.

In addition to receiving those benefits,

they were also awarded a blue badge to help them get around

and Sharon helped them access a grant

from a charity called Family Fund.

The difference to their quality of life was huge,

but Sharon's help would be coming to an end when Edie went to pre-school.

Claire and Danny knew that in order to help their daughter

and themselves in the future,

they had to find support networks that could continue to help them.

And when they came across the charity Cure Rett,

it was just what they were looking for.

Elizabeth Halford is one of the directors of the charity.

We are one of a handful of Rett syndrome charities in the UK

and we offer family support.

We also fund-raise to cure Rett syndrome.

The charity also runs regional days that gives families

with Rett children the opportunity to meet.

It is a family-orientated charity

and we met a lot of other parents, which is really reassuring.

It's other people in the same boat.

The charity is not only providing Claire and Danny with support -

it also made them realise that they had something to offer

other families who'd been affected by Rett syndrome.

I now help with the family support side of things,

so newly-diagnosed families can speak to me

and we talk about what it feels like to first have that diagnosis

and, "Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?" which there is.

It doesn't seem like a very big light, but there is.

And while Claire's working for the charity,

Danny is going to be clocking up some miles for them.

We're going to try and raise some money for the charity.

We're doing a walk, my brother and six of my friends.

We're walking 125km for the charity.

The reason we're doing the walk is to put precious funds

into research and hopefully find a cure.

Danny and Claire have always been a really solid and calm couple,

but we've seen them over this past year really grown in confidence

and certainty. They really embrace Edie, they take joy in her.

They accept her limitations while also pursuing a better path for her.

When Danny and Claire first got that diagnosis

of Rett syndrome for Edie,

quite understandably, they were full of fear and anxiety,

but then they quickly came into contact with people

that could give them financial and emotional help

and could demonstrate that Edie can grow up and progress in her own way

while continuing to fill everyone around her with a great deal of joy.

Time now to return to the world of the scrounger.

Fraud teams at the Department for Work and Pensions

and Richmond Council are investigating Aliyah Abbasi,

who also goes by under the names Choudhry and Khan,

because they suspect she's been claiming benefits while working.

We had huge question marks over the identity.

We had three names - Robina Abbasi, Aliyah Abbasi and Jameel Choudhry.

We really needed to get to the bottom of this.

Mark's fraud team at the DWP were on her tail.

When we had a reply from the transport service that showed

that we had three photos on three separate passports,

but all of the same woman,

we then decided to go back to Connaught plc,

who was one of her employers, to make further enquiries with them.

Aliyah had denied working at all and even volunteered to attend

an ID parade at the company to prove that she'd never worked there.

When we showed the passport photos to the company, Connaught,

they then produced a photo taken from their records,

which showed that these passport photos were all one and the same

and the person in their employment photo was also the same person.

So, she wasn't a victim of identity fraud - she was the fraudster.

Mark also showed Aliyah's picture to investigators at Richmond,

who confirmed that she was the person they'd interviewed

and had been claiming Housing Benefit.

But the case was unravelling even further.

During the course of our enquiries,

there was another enquiry made to Richmond Council

by the Ealing local authority

involving the name of Mohammed Choudhry.

It turned out, there was a man in Ealing Council's jurisdiction

who was living with a woman in Albert Road

and Ealing's fraud investigators believed

he was fraudulently claiming Housing Benefit

because he actually owned two properties.

Guess what? The woman he was living with was one Aliyah Choudhry.

It did start to look like an even bigger fraud.

Now they had a possible new address for Aliyah in Albert Road, Ealing.

Ealing fraud investigators knew she was claiming benefits

in their borough as well.

Mark needed hard evidence to find out if it was his woman,

where it was she was actually living and whether the two were a couple.

In May 2011, an Asian female presented themselves

at Twickenham Job Centre as Abbasi.

In August of 2011, the same lady went to Ealing local authority

and presented herself as Choudhry.

At the same time, we were also watching a property in Southall.

The person that came out of that property was the same person

who presented themselves as Abbasi at Twickenham Jobcentre.

Aliyah was clearly living in Ealing with Mohammed Choudhry,

not in Richmond.

When they dug deeper,

they even found joint bank accounts for the happy couple.

So, our investigators had multiple names, multiple claims

and multiple properties.

In the middle of it all - our couple.

The councils mustered their troops

and got ready to knock on a couple of doors.

The arrest was conducted early morning in April 2012,

where the police arrested Miss Choudhry at Albert Road, Southall.

During the course of the arrest,

the police conducted a search of the properties

and actually found evidence which proved

that she had worked for Connaught plc

and also showed that she had used

both the identities Abbasi and Choudhry.

They also checked out her address, Mason Close, in Richmond,

where they uncovered even more.

We had to force entry to the property

as there was nobody home when we called.

It became apparent that the property was not being used

for residential purposes.

There wasn't even a bed in the bedroom.

The property was obviously being sub-let to a business

to be run from it and not for the purpose that we were paying

the Housing Benefit at the time.

So, she was renting out Mason Close as an office.

The investigators had yet another allegation to put to Aliyah,

but when they brought her in for an interview,

she wasn't very talkative.

Once she was arrested, she was booked into custody

and with her legal representative, she was interviewed again.

At that time, she presented a pre-written statement

saying that she wished to admit to the fraud by misrepresentation

with regards to her home address and was very sorry for her actions.

She had nothing further to say at this particular time.

It wasn't the full confession that the fraud team was hoping for,

but the investigators had enough evidence to charge her

with failing to notify of a change of circumstance.

Mohammed Choudhry was also arrested

and charged with making false claims and representations.

When we calculated what had been overpaid to Aliyah Choudhry,

her Income Support overpayment totalled £20,000

and her overpayment on Housing Benefit was £65,000.

When we added that together to the overpayment in Mr Choudhry's case,

it totalled just under £100,000.

And 100 grand is a hefty wedge of taxpayers' money,

but before the court case came around,

the couple had put their hands up to everything and pled guilty.

In March 2013,

Aliyah Choudhry was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment

and Mr Mohammed Choudhry was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment.

For all the fraud teams involved in the case, it was a great result.

Without proactive data-matching exercises by the DWP,

and then the co-operation of the council's fraud investigators,

who knows how long Aliyah and Mohammed Choudhry's scam

may have run?

But two things are for certain -

they got the jail time they deserved

and the DWP's financial investigators

won't be letting this one go in a hurry.