0:00:02 > 0:00:06In the UK, most of us work hard and pay our taxes.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Most people, basically, intrinsically, won't fiddle.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13I'm happy I live in a society that has a safety net for the poor.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16And we generally agree that it's right that
0:00:16 > 0:00:20a proportion of what you earn should go into a pot that's there
0:00:20 > 0:00:22to help you should you need it.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26But that money doesn't always find its way to the right people.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31- I think lying to gain the benefit is so wrong.- It's awful!
0:00:31 > 0:00:33If you believe in karma, it's going to come back round
0:00:33 > 0:00:35and get you, isn't it?
0:00:35 > 0:00:38There are big changes taking place in the welfare system
0:00:38 > 0:00:40here in the UK.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43And now it's more important than ever that the right help
0:00:43 > 0:00:45gets to the right people.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48This is the world of saints and scroungers.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54Coming up on today's show:
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Two serial fraudsters claiming any benefits they could think of,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02despite earning a fair whack from their property empire...
0:01:02 > 0:01:07We found evidence of foreign holidays, receipts for jewellery
0:01:07 > 0:01:09running into thousands of pounds,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11which is a lot more than you would expect, again,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14for people reliant on benefits.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17..and a man struck down with a mystery illness on holiday finds
0:01:17 > 0:01:21- out his life has changed for ever. - I was frightened.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23I thought he was going to die...
0:01:24 > 0:01:27..and I'm going to get really upset.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29I'm just going to be on my own.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35With unemployment at over two million,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38finding a job these days can be very hard,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42but the good news is there is state support there to help you
0:01:42 > 0:01:45through that period and get out the other side.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49But all those rejections, the better-luck-next-times,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51they can get you down.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54They can lead you to despair or even a life of crime.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Right. Position applied for. "Jurnalissed".
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Meet Diane Ashley from Clapham, South London.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07She's a single, unemployed woman with three children.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12She'd been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, housing benefit
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and council tax benefit to help her along a bit
0:02:15 > 0:02:17while she looked for work.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22Diane Ashley had put a claim in for Lambeth Council from 2008 for
0:02:22 > 0:02:26assistance with housing benefit and council tax benefit.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29She'd claim that she paid rent for the property she lived in.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33And they did help with that because of her low income.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Michael O'Reilly's a fraud investigations manager
0:02:37 > 0:02:39working for Lambeth Council,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42and information that came to their attention at the start
0:02:42 > 0:02:47of 2010 suggested Diane's job hunt was going better than she'd
0:02:47 > 0:02:48let on to the council.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51We'd received an allegation from the benefits
0:02:51 > 0:02:53service from Lambeth Council,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58indicating that Diane Ashley may have had undeclared earned income.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01The fraud team knew Diane Ashley received Jobseeker's Allowance,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05which is only available to people actively looking for work.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07But the information from Her Majesty's Revenue
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and Customs was that she'd applied to them for working tax credits.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Working tax credits is something the government provides for you
0:03:17 > 0:03:21if you're working but on a low income, and it's based upon
0:03:21 > 0:03:25the number of hours you work and how much you earn.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28But the clue is in the title. Working tax credits.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30You've got to be in a job.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Diane Ashley had told the DWP
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and Lambeth Council that she was jobless.
0:03:36 > 0:03:37Missed a bit.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43When the HMRC ran a routine check with their friends
0:03:43 > 0:03:46at Lambeth Council, alarm bells started to ring.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49At that point, one of our investigators picked up the case,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53and because we didn't have specific information,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56decided to carry out some background checks.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Going back over her claim forms,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Diane Ashley had told Lambeth Council
0:04:01 > 0:04:04she rented a property in Surridge Court in Clapham,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08South London, that she was single, had three children and didn't work.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Diane Ashley had had earned income from employment
0:04:15 > 0:04:19she had previously that we weren't made aware of.
0:04:19 > 0:04:26On checking her credit record, we established that she had accounts in
0:04:26 > 0:04:32the name of Diane Pink, also accounts in association with Rudolph Pink.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Again, on checking her benefit claim,
0:04:34 > 0:04:39her landlord was declared as a Mr Rudolph Pink. Quite an unusual name.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41And we obviously wanted to look further into that.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Mr Pink... Do you know, I'm sure I know a movie with a Mr Pink?
0:04:47 > 0:04:48If this information proved correct,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51it was another serious allegation against Ashley.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Being in a relationship with her landlord would make any
0:04:54 > 0:04:57claims for benefit completely invalid.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01So, Mr Pink - fact or film fiction?
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Rudolph Pink lived in Lewisham.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08The indication from the credit checks we carried out
0:05:08 > 0:05:11indicated that she had a close association with Rudolph Pink...
0:05:12 > 0:05:16..joint bank accounts, bank accounts in his name,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20a mortgage for an address that we knew nothing about.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24So it pointed to the fact that, potentially, Diane Ashley
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and Rudolph Pink were actually a couple or were working together.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28Hi, babe.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32Yes. There was a distinct possibility that love
0:05:32 > 0:05:35was in the air between Mr Pink and Diane Ashley,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38so the investigation now turned its attention to the properties
0:05:38 > 0:05:42known to be connected to either Pink or Ashley.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Pink was registered as living in a house in a different borough,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Lewisham, so Lambeth's fraud team dropped them a line.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Because of the nature of his work,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54the case manager has chosen to remain anonymous.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I looked at the claim, and Mr Pink was in receipt
0:05:59 > 0:06:03of housing benefit and council tax benefit in respect of
0:06:03 > 0:06:06a property in Carholme Road,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09where he stated that his landlord was Miss Ashley.
0:06:12 > 0:06:13Whoa! So hold on!
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Mr Pink had named Diane Ashley,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19supposedly a single mother living on benefits, as his landlord,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23and she was claiming that he was her landlord!
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Not only that, Mr Pink had stated he was single
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and had been claiming housing benefit at his address
0:06:28 > 0:06:31in Carholme Road in Lewisham for eight years,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35pocketing close to a whopping £70,000.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40This is the street where Rudolph Pink made a housing benefit
0:06:40 > 0:06:44claim for as the tenant of Diane Ashley.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46We did a land registry check,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51and the owner of the property came back as Diane Ashley.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54So Diane Ashley was now a landlord
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and the owner of a property in Lewisham,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01something she neglected to mention in any of her benefits claims.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05But Michael O'Reilly's team wasn't content to stop its search there.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09We looked at her benefit history,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11found that prior to living at Lambeth...
0:07:11 > 0:07:17Living at Lambeth in 2008, she'd been resident in the borough of Thanet.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21So she'd previously lived in Kent.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Michael and his team got straight on the phone to Thanet Council
0:07:23 > 0:07:26and discovered that all three properties she'd claimed
0:07:26 > 0:07:30benefits from had been owned by either herself or Rudolph Pink.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35What started out as a single woman on benefits
0:07:35 > 0:07:38while looking for work now looked like a woman in a long-term
0:07:38 > 0:07:40relationship with connections to multiple
0:07:40 > 0:07:44properties across three councils in London and Kent.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47And yet, over the years, she'd claimed
0:07:47 > 0:07:51almost £34,000 in benefits from Lambeth Council,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54nearly £21,000 from Thanet Council
0:07:54 > 0:07:58and over £2,000 from the Department for Work & Pensions -
0:07:58 > 0:08:03a total of almost £57,000 of taxpayers' money that she
0:08:03 > 0:08:05almost certainly wasn't entitled to.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13For now, it's farewell to the scroungers that are trying to fleece the system
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and say hello to the ones we call our saints -
0:08:16 > 0:08:18those people who do everything to make sure that those
0:08:18 > 0:08:21in desperate need of help who are too proud
0:08:21 > 0:08:25or simply don't know how to help themselves get what they deserve.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32You know how life goes for most of us?
0:08:32 > 0:08:35You work hard and you make plans.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38But what happens if a debilitating illness comes along that
0:08:38 > 0:08:41means you can't work any more,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44and the plans you've made? You have to tear them up and start again.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51It's exactly what happened to Tony and Carol Cripps when, in 2011,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Tony suddenly fell ill while the couple were on holiday in Lanzarote.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59It was just this idea, it was March and we just needed some sun
0:08:59 > 0:09:03so we thought, "Right, Lanzarote looks great, let's go there."
0:09:03 > 0:09:08Tony enjoyed his work as an administrator in the building trade,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and Carol loved her receptionist job in London.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14They were both actively enjoying life
0:09:14 > 0:09:16and holidaying as often as they could.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21Got on the plane and the first instance I thought was a bit strange
0:09:21 > 0:09:23was Tony fell asleep straight away.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26I just thought, "Well, he's obviously overworked.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28"We really need this holiday."
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Things quickly deteriorated and the next day,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Carol decided to take Tony straight to hospital.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39They said did I notice anything different about Tony.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42And when I looked, his face had fallen on one side
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and I thought, "Oh, my word, he's having a stroke."
0:09:45 > 0:09:48I was concerned for Tony and I was frightened.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I thought he was going to die
0:09:50 > 0:09:53and... I'm going to get really upset.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56..I was going to be on my own.
0:09:56 > 0:09:57He wanted to know -
0:09:57 > 0:10:02and so did I - overwhelmingly, what was the matter with him.
0:10:02 > 0:10:08But we were told that we needed to see a neurologist
0:10:08 > 0:10:09as soon as we got back to the UK.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15On returning home to UK, they immediately saw a specialist,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18but they were still no closer to a diagnosis.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21You'd been on holiday
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and terrible things had happened that you can't really explain.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28- Mm-hm.- Um...and at this time, you're not really sure what's going on.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32- What was going through your mind? - I knew that it was serious.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34I didn't know quite what, though.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38I thought cancer, brain tumour,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40anything along those lines.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44We were told what it wasn't, but not necessarily what it was.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47It was eight long months later
0:10:47 > 0:10:50that they found out exactly what WAS wrong with Tony.
0:10:50 > 0:10:57We finally had a meeting with a neurologist and he said that,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00obviously, it was quite a serious thing Tony had wrong.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03We were told it was progressive.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08It would start with a walking stick, then it would go to a frame,
0:11:08 > 0:11:13then it would go to a wheelchair and then bedridden and then death.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Tony had been diagnosed with an extremely rare condition
0:11:17 > 0:11:21called multiple systems atrophy, a terminal illness which causes
0:11:21 > 0:11:24certain cells in the brain to degenerate.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It was pretty devastating.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32I always thought when Tony and I got married that I'd met my soul mate.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34And that we'd grow old together.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40And to know that I have a very, very limited time with him...
0:11:42 > 0:11:46..it is really, really, really devastating.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49What did you find out about the condition
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and what it meant, physically, for Tony?
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Tony finds it difficult speaking to people for a very long time.
0:11:56 > 0:12:03His voice tends to be very good some days and his speech is fine,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and on other days, he struggles.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10- You're able to talk about this in quite a matter-of-fact way.- Mm-hm.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14- Clearly, it's something that affects you very deeply.- Absolutely.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17- And I'm sure you've shed tears over it.- Yes.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20It's a coping mechanism,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24because if I was to worry all the time about what's going to
0:12:24 > 0:12:29happen to Tony, I wouldn't be doing him any service at all.
0:12:29 > 0:12:37And I want to be able to keep a level head and not fluster, fuss him.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40It's going to only get worse and increase,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43so I try very hard not to think about that.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46The time for my tears will be afterwards.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50When Tony's not here.
0:12:52 > 0:12:53Now I'm going to go.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02To effectively be losing the substance of who that man was
0:13:02 > 0:13:07- in a very short time, I think that's heartbreaking.- It is.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10It's very difficult. Yeah.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Carol is coping with the situation the only way she knows how -
0:13:19 > 0:13:20by staying strong for Tony -
0:13:20 > 0:13:23but it wasn't just the two of them
0:13:23 > 0:13:26that would have to come to terms with his condition.
0:13:26 > 0:13:32To be honest, when I heard about my dad's diagnosis,
0:13:32 > 0:13:37I didn't really quite know what it was, what to expect,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40how bad it would be, how bad it would get.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43It was devastating news for the family.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Tony had been forced to stop working, and Carol had had to
0:13:46 > 0:13:49give up work to look after him, so they had no income.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51To make matters worse,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55at the time, they were living with Tony's elderly mother at her house.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- So, you're living in this house? - That's right, yes.
0:13:58 > 0:13:59Why did that have to change?
0:13:59 > 0:14:05It became apparent very early on that we couldn't change the house
0:14:05 > 0:14:08to suit Tony, because of his condition.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13With Tony's mother's house becoming rapidly more unsuitable for him
0:14:13 > 0:14:16and the couple barely able to support themselves,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18the situation became unbearable.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Tony and Carol were clearly in desperate need of help,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23both emotionally and financially.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28They needed somewhere to live that would accommodate Tony's constantly-changing needs,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31so they turned to the local hospice for some advice.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Because Tony's father died of cancer,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38we've always known that Princess Alice is there.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40The patients that get referred to us
0:14:40 > 0:14:44will have some form of life-limiting disease or illness.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46We offer all sorts of care and support,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50so we do focus on the physical problems that somebody might
0:14:50 > 0:14:54be experiencing, for example, pain, nausea, breathlessness.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58We also look at the emotional support that we can offer
0:14:58 > 0:15:01themselves, their family, their children.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Also, financial support in terms of advising them.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Tony and Carol's case was handed to Gauri Chauhan, who immediately
0:15:09 > 0:15:13realised how much help and support they desperately needed.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16When I first met Tony and Carol, things looked really bad.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20You know, Tony wasn't feeling very well
0:15:20 > 0:15:23and he was noticing changes every
0:15:23 > 0:15:27day and Carol was having to stop work and so it was really scary
0:15:27 > 0:15:30to think about what might happen next.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33I'd established that what they needed was definitely to
0:15:33 > 0:15:37be in the right housing as well as getting Carol some Carer's Allowance
0:15:37 > 0:15:40and looking into Employment and Support Allowance for Tony.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43It sounded like Gauri could be the person to bring some
0:15:43 > 0:15:47much-needed relief into Tony and Carol's lives.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Let's talk about Tony and Carol - what could you do for them, specifically?
0:15:50 > 0:15:53I think they'd been on the housing list for about five months,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56wanting to get a bungalow and also to make sure that Tony
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and Carol were getting the right benefits, so I think when I first
0:15:59 > 0:16:03met Tony he was just getting the low rate of Disability Living Allowance.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06We worked together to fill out a Disability Living Allowance form
0:16:06 > 0:16:08to make sure it was a higher rate.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Also making sure that he was on Employment and Support Allowance
0:16:11 > 0:16:13and Carol was getting Carer's Allowance.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Eventually, I think in February, they moved into their bungalow
0:16:18 > 0:16:22and it was a really significant move for them, really important,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25but also really difficult, because they just didn't have the
0:16:25 > 0:16:28finances by then to be able to afford the basics that they needed.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33At that point, we approached a lot of grant charities to see
0:16:33 > 0:16:36what we could get from where and one charity actually gave us
0:16:36 > 0:16:40£1,000, which is significantly more than others have
0:16:40 > 0:16:43given in the past, so that was quite positive.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47We're terribly grateful to Gauri, because without her help, we
0:16:47 > 0:16:52wouldn't have known about the grants that would have been available
0:16:52 > 0:16:58for us to use and we wouldn't have been able to source them...
0:16:58 > 0:17:01..which... I don't know where we would be.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05So, Gauri has helped with the immediate financial need.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Now, it's about making sure Tony has the best possible
0:17:08 > 0:17:10quality of life.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12- You see Tony here...- Yes.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14What does HE get from it?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Um, well, Tony comes to the day hospice here
0:17:17 > 0:17:22and I run a discussion group in the day hospice every week and...
0:17:23 > 0:17:27There's a real sense there of people not being so isolated
0:17:27 > 0:17:32with their illnesses or symptoms or problems in life.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33I guess for Carol,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37it also means that she's just got some space to herself.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41The hospice is clearly a very important place for many
0:17:41 > 0:17:44terminally-ill patients and their families.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46But more importantly, what does Tony think of it?
0:17:49 > 0:17:53- How are you doing?- I'm doing fine. - It's a great place, isn't it?
0:17:53 > 0:17:59- It's so different!- Yeah. - I feel so at home here.- Yeah.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02It must make a big difference for you and Carol as well,
0:18:02 > 0:18:07because...you know, if you were thinking to yourself, everything
0:18:07 > 0:18:10is on Carol, all the responsibility is on her, that's hard.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15Yes, I mean, it's like I used to do so much,
0:18:15 > 0:18:20carrying shopping and working outside, the pavement
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and things that a bloke would do, so
0:18:23 > 0:18:29it's been difficult to come to terms with being disabled for that reason.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Does this place change, then, the way things are at home with Carol?
0:18:33 > 0:18:40Yeah, because I take great comfort knowing that she's got
0:18:40 > 0:18:46someone at her side, someone that will help her in every way possible.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49- Take care, mate.- Lovely seeing you, Tony.- Lovely speaking to you.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53- Be good.- And if you can't be good... - Be careful.- Thank you.- Ta-ra, mate.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57'It's clear that the hospice provides well-needed support
0:18:57 > 0:19:01'and respite for both Carol and Tony in very difficult circumstances.'
0:19:01 > 0:19:04There is no cure to what Tony is going through,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08so what are you hoping to get from what to a lot of people would say
0:19:08 > 0:19:10was a fairly hopeless situation?
0:19:10 > 0:19:13It's tough, we're all dying,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16we're all able to push that aside, to some extent,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19but for Tony and other patients here at the hospice, they're,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22you know, confronted with it on a daily basis
0:19:22 > 0:19:25and that's really difficult for them.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28'The work that Gauri does at the hospice is overwhelming and if
0:19:28 > 0:19:32'anyone deserves the kind of support she can give, it's Tony and Carol.'
0:19:32 > 0:19:34If it was not for this place,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38if you can imagine now without this place and now with this place,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41what are the main differences, what does it mean for you?
0:19:42 > 0:19:47It's not just the here and now, it's in the future as Tony progresses.
0:19:47 > 0:19:53Obviously, our need for a place like this will increase.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56It's comforting to know that there are people here to help me
0:19:56 > 0:20:00and Tony, and our family,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02to cope with Tony's condition.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07It's easy to look at Tony and Carol's situation
0:20:07 > 0:20:11and say, "There's no happy ending here, it's desperate,"
0:20:11 > 0:20:15and it's true that they both know, to a certain extent,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18what the future has in store for them, but in the hospice
0:20:18 > 0:20:19they've found a group of people
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and an organisation that knows how to handle that future,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28which allows them to concentrate on enjoying and making the most
0:20:28 > 0:20:32of what they've got right now, today, which is a precious thing.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41Time now to return to the world of our money-hungry scroungers.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Lambeth and Lewisham councils are on the trail of Diane Ashley
0:20:45 > 0:20:48and her potential partner Rudolph Pink.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Once we'd gathered all the evidence, it was clear that Ashley
0:20:53 > 0:20:55and Pink were both involved in serious fraud.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Diane Ashley had been claiming benefits
0:20:59 > 0:21:01to the tune of almost £57,000,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03based on the fact she was single and looking for work,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06but Lambeth and Lewisham councils' fraud teams had discovered
0:21:06 > 0:21:09she was, in fact, a property owner.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Not only that, there was evidence she was in a serious
0:21:13 > 0:21:17relationship with the man she said was her landlord, Rudolph Pink,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20something that could render her claims invalid.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Our records indicated that Diane Ashley lived in a property
0:21:23 > 0:21:27in Lambeth. Lewisham indicated that she was a landlord of a property
0:21:27 > 0:21:32in their borough and was claiming rent in respect of Rudolph Pink.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36So, in the boroughs of Lambeth and Lewisham,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Diane Ashley was looking like two very different people.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Stick with me, because this is where it gets interesting.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47Ashley is claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit
0:21:47 > 0:21:49from this property here in Clapham,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52claiming that she is unemployed and on Jobseeker's Allowance,
0:21:52 > 0:21:59however, meanwhile, she's also the landlord of this property in Catford
0:21:59 > 0:22:03where her potential fella is claiming benefits.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Meanwhile, investigators in Thanet have them
0:22:06 > 0:22:09linked to three properties here in Margate.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13It's starting to sound as though this couple don't really need
0:22:13 > 0:22:14the taxpayers' help at all.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19But Lewisham and Lambeth fraud teams still needed more evidence
0:22:19 > 0:22:21to prove their cases against them.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The investigation had established links between the couple
0:22:25 > 0:22:26and a number of properties,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30but we really wanted to confirm that they were married.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36If we could confirm that, that would present an open-and-shut case.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40To try and establish that the couple were married, we had
0:22:40 > 0:22:42gone to the Lewisham Registry Office
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and asked them to check their records.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47That drew a blank.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50At that point, we were at a bit of a dead end
0:22:50 > 0:22:55because we didn't have any proof of the couple being married.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Despite not finding any record of marriage,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the investigators knew there was another way to gather evidence -
0:23:02 > 0:23:04a much more direct way.
0:23:04 > 0:23:05We needed to find this evidence
0:23:05 > 0:23:07and the only way to do this would be to arrange a raid
0:23:07 > 0:23:11and arrest at the property we believed they were both living at.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13SIRENS BLARE
0:23:13 > 0:23:15So, the fraud investigators wasted no time
0:23:15 > 0:23:19and the very next day at 7am, Carholme Road in Catford,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23where it was suspected they lived together, was raided by the police.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30We were hoping to find evidence of the offences that we were looking
0:23:30 > 0:23:36at, so evidence linking Mr Pink and Miss Ashley together as a couple.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42And surprise, surprise, Diane Ashley and Rudolph Pink answered the door.
0:23:44 > 0:23:51When we raided the address, the couple appeared quite surprised,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54it was quite early in the morning when we went into the address
0:23:54 > 0:23:58and they hadn't been up properly,
0:23:58 > 0:24:04they were still in bed clothing, so they did seem a bit stunned.
0:24:04 > 0:24:10There seemed to be a little bit of concern shown by Miss Ashley
0:24:10 > 0:24:16when the raid took place, but Mr Pink didn't seem very concerned
0:24:16 > 0:24:22and he maintained his silence throughout the raid.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Diane Ashley and Rudolph Pink may not have seemed overly
0:24:26 > 0:24:29concerned about the early-morning raid,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33but would the investigators find the evidence that they were looking for?
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Their lifestyle was much greater than you would expect from a couple
0:24:38 > 0:24:40reliant on benefits.
0:24:40 > 0:24:47They had a very nice home, the home was furnished
0:24:47 > 0:24:50and to a much higher standard than you would normally
0:24:50 > 0:24:52find people on benefits having.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56We found evidence of foreign holidays, we found
0:24:56 > 0:25:01evidence of receipts for jewellery, running into thousands of pounds,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04which is a lot more than you would expect again
0:25:04 > 0:25:06for people reliant on benefits.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Straightaway we noticed that around on shelving
0:25:10 > 0:25:16were photographs that appeared to be wedding photographs, erm...
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Further trekking through documentation that was
0:25:19 > 0:25:25boxed in the house unearthed a wedding photo album
0:25:25 > 0:25:28and also an invitation card to a wedding
0:25:28 > 0:25:33and it gave details of the wedding location and the date.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38This was the crucial piece of evidence
0:25:38 > 0:25:42they'd been searching for, which so far had not come to light.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46We were surprised that they had got married in Lewisham,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50because we hadn't managed to unearth any evidence of it.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52It was quite clear to us
0:25:52 > 0:25:58that a married couple can't have one partner being the landlord
0:25:58 > 0:26:03of the other, so therefore the claim was totally invalid.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07But if the fraud investigators had found wedding invitations
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and wedding photos of a marriage that took place at a church
0:26:10 > 0:26:14in Lewisham in 2003, why had this not come up at the registry office?
0:26:16 > 0:26:20This church is in the Borough of Lewisham,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24so we were a bit surprised as to why it hadn't come
0:26:24 > 0:26:27to light before that they had, in fact, got married.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30When we checked with the church,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34it turned out that they hadn't sent off all their records to the
0:26:34 > 0:26:38local registry office and that's why it hadn't come to light that they
0:26:38 > 0:26:42were married before when we made our enquiries with the registry office.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48So a simple administrative backlog in the church had meant that
0:26:48 > 0:26:52Mr and Mrs Pink's nuptials hadn't popped up in the system.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Now, armed with an overwhelming amount of evidence,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Mr and Mrs Pink were arrested and interviewed under caution.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Clearly, the couple now had some questions to answer.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09During the interview with Mr Pink and Miss Ashley,
0:27:09 > 0:27:16they were both questioned about the fact that they were married.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Both parties gave no comment to the questions.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24So the couple still refused to admit they were married and had nothing to
0:27:24 > 0:27:28say about the £126,000-worth of benefits
0:27:28 > 0:27:30they had fraudulently received.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35They both got bail, but a month later they were due in court.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Diane Ashley was given
0:27:39 > 0:27:41a 12-month suspended sentence
0:27:41 > 0:27:43and Rudolph Pink was jailed
0:27:43 > 0:27:44for ten months.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Things aren't looking too rosy for the Pinks -
0:27:49 > 0:27:53jail time and the prospect of having to pay back all the money
0:27:53 > 0:27:57they owe, but look at it this way, there is a kind of irony.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Fraudulently obtained housing benefit, which benefited them
0:28:01 > 0:28:04while they were in houses, is now being used to benefit those
0:28:04 > 0:28:06who need houses.
0:28:07 > 0:28:08Yeah, that kind of works.