Fox/Disability Dynamics Saints and Scroungers

Think about it, what would you do if you had a bad run of luck?

The chances are that you'd end up turning to government agencies

for a bit of help.

I think we're very lucky to have a welfare state

and I think a lot of people don't appreciate it.

My husband is disabled. Without the benefits system

we would have found things very difficult.

Here in the UK millions of us need to ask for help every year

in the form of benefits, Legal Aid and health care.

But there are some people who are out there to cheat the system

out of as much as they can.

Benefit cheats are criminals and they should be treated accordingly.

How are these people managing to get away with this?

But those people who are trying to get rich from the public purse

are now being sniffed out by investigators, who want to make

sure that as much money as possible is available to those who need it.

This is the world of Saints and Scroungers.

Coming up, the scroungers who are out to beat the system.

A woman who claimed thousands of pounds of benefits over

nine years, claiming she was a single parent who needed help.

The police and benefit officers attended this address.

The door was answered by the alleged partner in his pyjamas.

A scrounger whose council property was making her a mint,

but who ended up paying the price.

We received an anonymous call by the council's fraud hotline alleging

that Miss Goatley wasn't actually living at her council property.

And those who rightly deserve a helping hand.

A man struck down

with a debilitating and inexplicable illness

discovers his life is about to change for ever.

As I walked in he looked really startled,

as though a stranger had just walked into the house.

That really was quite a scary moment.

Being a parent can be tough, even when there's two of you.

But if one partner walks out

and there's still a mortgage to pay, well, then it can be too much.

Meet mother of three, Jacqueline Fox.

In 2003 her partner left her.

She began claiming benefits to keep a roof over her

and her family's head.

It was much-needed help, especially as she had a mortgage to pay.

Jacqueline lived in Worthing, a large seaside town

on the south coast. Popular with families and the retired,

this six-mile-square corner of the country is home

to around 100,000 people, 10,000 of whom are claiming housing benefit.

Terry Cutler is a finance manager at Worthing Borough Council.

Certainly 95% of claims are genuine.

We never have a problem with them.

People are honest. Benefits are aimed at the people who are deserving.

They are for people who have fallen on hard times

for one reason or another and genuinely need the help.

There's about £250,000 worth of overpayments every year due to fraud.

However, we do recover that money.

So when you say there is a cost, there isn't one,

because we get the money back.

Jacqueline appeared to be a deserving case for support,

but information in 2010 suggested that her relationship

with her partner wasn't quite as rocky as she'd made out.

Her case landed on the desk of fraud investigator Dave Barrow.

Jacqueline Fox, as a single mother,

is entitled on paper to income support, council tax benefit

as a homeowner and also for the DWP to pay her mortgage interest.

She could be made homeless

if her mortgage interest repayments weren't kept up and therefore,

as an income support claimant, she's entitled to help.

Homeowners whose circumstances change,

putting their properties at risk, are able to apply to

the Department Of Work And Pensions safety net for help.

But information passed to Worthing Council in 2010 cast doubt

over Jacqueline Fox's claims.

The investigation started as a result of an anonymous tip-off

that her partner had returned to live at her address.

That's an issue because obviously as a single mother, she is

claiming benefits, not declaring a partner who is possibly working.

If the tip-off held any weight it was unlikely Jacqueline would

have been eligible to claim benefits from Worthing Council

or the Department For Work And Pensions.

Dave immediately dug out her file

and went back over her claims forms dating back to 2003.

She is accepting that she is giving the full,

true and complete information on the form and she's also agreeing to

notify any change of circumstance, such as a partner moving in.

On page five she's declared the three children...

On page six, which is her opportunity to declare any other

adult living in the house, she's ticked no and left the page blank.

If all the statements she made were correct, then she'd be entitled to

all her benefits, to help her along a bit until she found her feet.

It's vital that people report any change of circumstance to us.

If their circumstances had got worse or they had got better

and they are getting more income, then they could be accruing

a large overpayment which they might have difficulty paying back.

Her claim for benefit is based on the fact that she's declaring

she is a lone mother with three children and with a very low income.

And obviously if the evidence proved that there is a working partner

living there, then obviously her benefit claim

alters in its ingredients completely.

Since her claims began, she'd received over £60,000

in income support and around £7,000 in council tax benefit.

But Jacqueline Fox's benefit claims were at complete odds

with the information gathered from the anonymous tip-off.

It's at times like this that investigators need to

get to the heart of the matter.

One of the tools they can use is of course surveillance,

but it's time-consuming.

Sometimes it's quicker and easier to take a journey

through someone's finances and credit history.

And with close to £67,000 at stake,

Worthing Council got straight on to the case.

The first thing we did to start the investigation was to conduct

a credit search, which revealed that Mrs Fox had taken out a loan

and had an undeclared bank account.

Now, Jacqueline could just be saving a small amount of money for a

rainy day and the loan could also potentially be explained, but the

fact that she hadn't declared them rang alarm bells with the council.

Dave was like a dog with a bone

and dug deeper into Jacqueline's finances.

Closer examination of the bank account showed that there were

a series of credits over a period of time for three separate employments.

So there was now the possibility that this supposedly single,

unemployed mother of three was working.

If true, it was yet another thing she'd neglected to tell the council.

The credits that were coming into her account were not

small change either.

She was bringing in a very healthy £600 a week.

The team needed to find out who was paying Jacqueline.

We contacted the company that was paying the current credit,

which is a roofing company, who were able to confirm that Mrs Fox

was not their employee, but their employee was the alleged partner.

So, Ms Fox and her partner's relationship is over,

it's history.

He's moved out and left her and the kids to fend for themselves.

And yet he's still paying his wages into her bank account.

It sounds like a very amicable break-up!

Either her so-called partner was extremely generous

or the tip-off was beginning to ring true.

Next on the fraud team's list was to find out more about the loan

that Jacqueline Fox had taken out.

They were hoping it would shed more light into her finances

and, even better, link her alleged partner to her address.

The loan was for a small works-type vehicle

which had been registered in her partner's name at her address.

It links the partner to her address, and the fact that she had

taken out the loan in her name, but it's his vehicle.

DVLA records are just one of the many databases

fraud investigators can access, so now Dave had established that

Jacqueline's alleged partner has a car registered at her address.

A car that she bought.

This was either the most harmonious break-up of all time

or there was some serious deception going on.

We'll find out later if the council had enough to prove that she

was living with her so-called ex.

If the tip-off was proved to be correct,

then Mrs Fox could face prosecution.

For now, though, it's farewell to the scroungers trying to fleece

the system and let's say hello to those we call our saints,

people who do everything to make sure that those in need

of help who are too proud or simply don't know how to help themselves,

get what they deserve.

Living with a disability can present many challenges,

but you would hope that once it's clear what you're dealing with,

people should recognise that and give you a break.

Some conditions, however,

don't conform to people's idea of what a disability is

or how it should behave, and that can make life very tough.

In 2008, father of two Paul Kay realised that the headaches

he has always suffered from were taking a much more sinister turn.

My migraines are something I've dealt with since I was a teenage lad.

I've always been able to self-medicate it

and bring it down to a level where I could work.

I felt such immense pain on the opposite side

of my head that the migraines are, and...

I started forgetting things.

Before he started losing his memory, Paul had been self-employed

for many years as a traffic safety control officer, and was

responsible for implementing safety measures for over 150 road workers.

His steady income meant that he could afford to take his long-term

partner Denise and their two children on holiday

several times a year, something they all enjoyed.

But as his migraines and memory loss developed,

he was finding it harder and harder to continue working.

When my illness started with me...

I couldn't keep MYSELF safe.

That is one of the fundamental parts of safety,

who are you responsible for, safety-wise?

You're responsible for yourself first and foremost.

If I can't make sure I'M safe,

how do I make sure everybody else is safe?

When the severe pain and memory loss started,

he was in the middle of a contract working on the M1 motorway.

His bouts of memory loss

and debilitating migraines were having a direct impact on his job.

These developments came as a complete shock

both to Paul and to Denise.

When Paul was in that kind of situation, because he just...

"I can't drive today." And Paul will always drive.

Over the following months, Paul continued to work,

but things were about to get much worse.

I'd been at work all day and I came home

and Paul was sat on the settee and he just kind of...

As I walked in, he looked really startled,

as though a stranger had just walked into the house.

It was all very quick, but there was just that moment

where he really didn't know who I was walking into our own home.

So that...that was really quite a scary moment.

It was a very upsetting moment

because it was when I kind of realised

how bad things were for him.

I started asking myself... "What's wrong?"

The mystery illness had pulled the rug from under Paul's feet.

I've come to Chesterfield to hear more about the impact it was

having on his day-to-day life.

So you were feeling huge frustration.

My migraines would... would basically...

I could manage it and I could still work.

The pains in my right...on my left side actually put me laid down.

I couldn't physically...get up to go to work. I literally couldn't move.

The pain was so immense.

But it wasn't just the pain and the memory loss they had to cope with.

The boys were noticing a difference in Paul.

They were noticing that he was far...less with it, you know.

Sometimes when they were asking him things Paul was quite vacant

and vague in his answering of their questions.

And things soon went from bad to worse.

There was more kind of aggression, as well, you know.

Not towards us, but out of frustration.

It was quite scary for Paul, I'm sure.

But it was also quite scary for us

because we didn't know what was going on at all.

Paul struggled to get to the end of the M1 contract

and it was clear both to him

and Denise that taking the next job was out of the question.

It was high time they got to the bottom of what was wrong with Paul.

When we first went to the doctor's, he ordered an MRI scan and a CT scan.

When them scans come back, it showed nothing.

I said to him, "Do you know what's wrong with my head?"

"No. We may never know. We can only...sort the pain."

Paul continued to suffer excruciating physical pain

and bouts of complete memory loss.

He couldn't work and was becoming increasingly withdrawn.

During that time... I...I felt very, very ashamed.

I felt embarrassed because I couldn't explain to people what it was.

I felt...I felt a failure because I couldn't work.

Denise was working as a part-time hypnotherapist.

With just her salary coming in, the financial situation

was becoming a major worry.

How were things looking financially?

Very, very...bleak.

And we were basically fighting to keep our heads above water

and trying to get our way through,

hoping that I'm going to be at a point where I can go back to work.

I class myself as an old-style gentleman. I provide for my family.

I try to give my children better than what I got.

Work isn't realistic for you now.

-Certainly not doing the kind of work you were doing before.

-No.

I was always looking backwards. How do I get back to work?

How do I get BACK to normal?

How do I get BACK to providing for my wife and kids?

How do you... How do you move forward when you're looking back?

What was your attitude to benefits before this happened to you?

It's... It is only my opinion and nobody else's, I always felt that...

if you had to claim something back you were a bit of a failure.

Did you ever consider people that were in situations

that were outside their control?

Honestly, no. I didn't put it in that perspective as such.

I realised that I'd got no option other than going down that road,

because I was...I'd got the doctors giving me a sick note.

We must have gone about four months of nothing, me trying to get

back to it, that...

I was admitting failure by having to go there.

After eight long months, Paul had to forget about his pride

and admit he needed help.

He started to claim what he was rightfully entitled to -

employment and support allowance.

I think that was one of the things that really kind of brought him

down even more, because he has always been proud

of the fact that he worked and he's not claimed.

He's never sort of given in at all to any illness.

He's just gone through it before.

And this was something completely new to him.

Even though the benefits were helping with the immediate

financial need, it never seemed enough.

The household finances were looking bleak and,

over the next two years, Paul started to show signs of depression.

We'll see later how a new member of the family changed everything.

His mood lifted. It lifted no end.

You could see it in his face, definitely,

he was a happier person to be around, completely.

Now, from those in need of help to those who abuse the very same

system to take money they are not entitled to.

We all want to see fraudsters get their comeuppance, but while

a prison sentence sends a very strong message,

if they've made money from what they've done,

well, it doesn't seem fair that they should keep it.

That's when the Proceeds Of Crime Act comes into play.

The Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002 was brought into play particularly

to deprive criminals of the assets that they have

gained as a result of their offending behaviour -

such as houses, property, land, vehicles, jewellery, money -

away from people who have committed offences.

We're going to take a look at how the fraud investigators

have been working hard to take back the money these criminals

have stolen from you and me, the taxpayer.

Meet Kelly Goatley.

She first approached the council back in 2000,

stating she was pregnant, homeless and in need of a council property.

The council considered her application and because of her age -

she was only 18 at the time - and the pregnancy,

she was considered to be in high priority need to be housed.

The council granted her social housing, a one-bed

Georgian terrace in a rather desirable part of west London,

at a rent of just £440 per month.

But 11 years later, some worrying information came to light.

John Noble, of Westminster Council, was on her tail.

At the end of January 2011,

we received an anonymous call via the council's fraud hotline,

alleging that Miss Goatley

wasn't actually living at her council property.

On the basis of the allegation, I carried out some background checks.

To all intents and purposes it looked as though Kelly was still there.

There was no information that she'd moved elsewhere.

Nothing to say that she'd told the council she'd moved out.

Nothing to say that she'd sought permission to have lodgers

or subtenants in the property.

But John needed to find out if this anonymous tip-off held any weight,

so he paid Miss Goatley a visit.

In early February 2011,

myself and a colleague actually visited

the property in Gloucester Terrace, knocked on the door

and we were admitted into the property by a young Spanish couple.

They told us that they were

renting the property from a landlady named Kelly Goatley,

and they actually showed us a copy of a tenancy agreement.

As far as they were concerned, they were paying the full market rate

for the property, and they were renting from a genuine landlord.

They were doing nothing wrong. They were just innocent victims here.

It turned out that Kelly had been letting out the property

over the years for between £1,200 and £1,400 a month.

John and his team got straight into action.

We instructed the estate office to commence civil recovery action

to get the property back, to formally evict Miss Goatley so that

the property could be reallocated to someone in genuine need.

It was time for Kelly to do some explaining,

so John got her in for an interview under caution.

Miss Goatley denied that she had sublet the property

purely for profit or personal gain.

She denied that she'd been living at an alternative address

throughout the entire period.

Following the interview with Miss Goatley, a review of the further

evidence that she had provided to support her claim, it was decided

that we had enough evidence to take the matter forward to prosecute.

So I put together a prosecution file.

Despite her protestations of innocence,

John and his team had enough hard evidence to take Goatley to court.

And by the time the date came round, she had decided to come clean.

Miss Goatley was summonsed to court

and entered guilty pleas for both offences.

In July 2012, she was sentenced to nine months in prison

for each offence, suspended for two years.

She was also ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid community work

as well as being handed a curfew between 10pm and 7am for two months.

She was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards prosecution costs.

It was a great result for Westminster Council,

but the investigations team weren't about to stop there.

What about the profit she'd made over the last 11 years?

She had paid the council £440 a month for the flat,

but she'd rented it out for up to £1,400.

That was a cool profit of £960 a month.

The Proceeds Of Crime Act provides that fraud investigators

can seek to recover all profits from criminal activity,

and the team at Westminster wanted what was rightfully theirs.

On the same day as the sentencing, the council applied for

a confiscation order to seek to recover as much as possible of the money that

Miss Goatley had fraudulently obtained through subletting her property.

Kelly was ordered to declare all of her assets,

and it was up to John to work out just how much she'd swindled.

Where possible, we'd always seek to recover the value of the fraud,

so we'd try to identify any assets,

whether that's undeclared savings, undeclared bank accounts,

other assets that could be sold to pay the council back the loss.

The team started digging around in her bank accounts,

trying to find evidence of any assets, but getting Kelly

to declare everything and cough up wasn't going to be easy.

During the course of the investigation,

I had become aware that Miss Goatley had a bank account that she

hadn't declared, so I focused my attention on trying to determine

whether there was money in that account that we could seize.

Just days before Miss Goatley's first court appearance,

approximately £11,000 had been withdrawn from that account.

Clearly this indicated that Miss Goatley may well have been

attempting to hide proceeds of her criminal activity.

Not only had Kelly illegally made huge profits over the years, she was

now trying to hide her cash to avoid paying back a single penny of it.

And she wasn't doing herself any favours with the fraud team.

With a lack of any assets or proof of cash anywhere,

John had to claim for the cash he knew had been

in her undeclared bank account just days before sentencing.

The judge ordered that Miss Goatley should repay the council

under a compensation order a total of £10,774.

Currently, Miss Goatley hasn't paid a penny

towards this confiscation order.

If she fails to do so, and fails to pay it in full by 30 September 2013,

she will face six months in prison

and still be liable to pay the full amount of the confiscation order.

At the end of the day, Westminster will not tolerate the illegal

subletting of council properties,

particularly by those individuals looking to make a quick profit

at the expense of those in genuine need of social housing.

So, Miss Goatley faces some stark choices.

Maybe she'll do the right thing and pay up.

It's time to leave the deceitful world of fakes and frauds,

and turn our attention to people that need the welfare state.

Paul Kay lost his job and his confidence

when he suddenly developed severe headaches and memory loss.

His condition remained undiagnosed,

and his prospect of finding work again was looking slim.

I'm very, very frustrated, because I want to know what's wrong with me.

I want to know what's been hurting me for three and a half years.

Paul had been forced to leave work, and reluctantly claim

employment and support allowance to help pay the bills.

Paul was starting to show signs of depression,

and his long-term partner Denise was desperate for ideas that might

improve a very difficult situation.

With Paul being so poorly,

I just suggested that we think about getting a puppy.

We had always said we would like a dog at some stage,

but when Paul was working, we felt that it wasn't fair to have

a dog if it was going to be left alone a lot.

Paul's lifelong love of dogs had triggered the idea to get

an addition to the household, a springer spaniel pup.

So, Denise, out of the blue into your lives drops Woody.

And what effect does that springer spaniel have on Paul?

It brought this interest back.

It brought a bit of spark back to his personality.

He went from being very down in the dumps to having a purpose again.

He was teaching his dog, our dog, how to be an obedient

and loving family pet.

And he really did kind of work out a kind of programme, if you like, of

how he was going to train Woody, and that was quite impressive, as well.

I love training dogs. I've had dogs all my life.

Each day gave me a new challenge to deal with Woody.

And I thoroughly threw myself into them challenges.

Woody, look at me.

Paul was still frustrated he was not able to work

and was forced to claim benefits, but Woody was suddenly bringing

an overwhelming degree of structure and positivity into his life.

He'd always had a passion for dogs,

and his father had taught him how to train them when he was younger.

This gave Denise an idea.

So when did this start turning into an idea for a new direction,

a new career for Paul?

Sometimes I would take Woody to the local park, and often if we were out

in the park, people would comment to me on how well-behaved he was.

Because he was still quite a young pup.

People would say, "Oh, he's so good."

And I would say, "I can't take credit for it.

"It's not me, it's Paul." And then it sort of began to take over

a little bit in my head about the fact that,

if he can do so well with our dog, perhaps that's

something that he could get into and earn a bit of money from.

On their next routine trip to the job centre,

Paul and Denise mentioned it to the adviser,

who thought it sounded like a great idea.

The couple were put in touch with an organisation called

Disability Dynamics, who specialise in offering support for disabled

and disadvantaged people through business start-up programmes.

Paul was assigned business adviser Nicky Tomlinson-Murphy.

When I first met Paul, he was really low, really down.

A guy who'd always worked, always had a really good job,

and now he was in a situation where he was at home and not being

able to support that family, which is a huge thing, absolutely huge.

And it was just, you know, let's have a look at what we can do and

start and build his confidence again, because he thought he was worthless.

I'm sure he thought, "I don't want to be like this, but what can I do?"

Nicky specialises in helping disadvantaged people

set up their own businesses.

And with her knowledge and support, there was

a real possibility that Paul's business plan

could become a reality.

I thought Paul would be successful with his business idea

because of his passion that he had, um, for the dog training.

Um, and as... You know,

it is something that he's already been involved in,

from being a young boy.

At the end of the day, he had all the knowledge

and he just needed that support and someone to give him the confidence

to help him move it forward.

Helping Paul was made easier for me, from the perspective that we share

'a passion for animals.'

Sit down then. Sit down. Great.

Sit down. Sit.

Mine are not as well-behaved as Paul's.

Hey, good fella.

Because I'd been out of self-employment

for 3½ years,

Nicky explained to me the other things that I needed to do.

And one of the first things she tackled was getting

Paul off employment and support allowance,

something HE was determined not to claim.

In Paul's situation, we were able to help him

compile his business plan for the forthcoming year,

which enabled him to apply for

a return to work credit with the Jobcentre.

Not only that, Nicky secured him a £2,000 grant,

a much-needed cash injection that Paul could spend on

equipment he needed to start up his new dog-training enterprise.

In conjunction to the return to work credit,

I was also able to put him in touch with a local organisation that,

at that time, was providing grant money to help start-up businesses.

And that helped him get some equipment

and get his marketing materials printed up.

Did you start to see a change in him?

Once he started to focus on

the possibility of getting his own business going -

dog training - his mood lifted. It lifted no end.

He was much more pleasant to be around again.

In June 2012,

with some help from Nicky, Paul was able to follow his dream.

Four years after he'd been forced to stop work,

he opened up his own business - Chesterfield Dog Training.

From the first time that I saw Paul -

as I mentioned, he was head in his hands -

always used to meet me...

when I went to see him, it was always Paul and Denise.

Um, but now,

you know, I'll ring up and say,

"Right, Paul, we need to have a catch-up."

"Yeah, when are you coming, Nicky?

"I'll get the kettle on. Me and Woody'll be here."

Um, and it's just Paul now, you know?

So, right from the beginning, it was always Paul and Denise,

whereas now, he's got his confidence

and it's just the two of us now in a meeting.

And just to see him... Oh, he's such a changed person.

He really is a changed person and he's full of enthusiasm.

And that's great to see. It's fantastic to see.

Makes my job just so worthwhile.

'I've popped along to see him in action

'with one of his regular clients, Christina.'

-So this is the business?

-It certainly is.

This beats the motorway for sure.

There you go, Christina.

If we do it like we said. Walk out...

'Paul specialises in training gun dogs.

'He focuses on training the owners as well as the dogs

'and he already has dozens of clients.'

The only question is, how you've not ended up doing this from the start?

I mean, this is your natural environment, isn't it, Paul?

It's my love. It's my passion.

Never ever did I dream that one day I would be stood in

this environment, laughing and smiling about work!

You know,

I don't know whether you believe in destiny, or things like that,

but to be stood here on this hillside,

you know, with that dog of yours, it almost makes you feel like

something was meant to change at some point to allow you to do this.

All I'm pleased about is that now,

through help from Disability Dynamics,

my health's getting better, my pain is still there at times,

but who can't feel nice when they're up here?

'The person that made all of this possible has also come along

'to see Paul in action.'

-Hi, Matt, nice to meet you. All right?

-Is it warm enough for you?

It's a little bit warm today, isn't it?

-What do you think of that, what he's doing over there?

-Oh, fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic.

For you, I mean, it's as much your dream and your career

that's tied up in this as it is Paul being able to do what he can.

From initially meeting Paul to seeing what he's doing now,

it's just amazing.

As you can see, off he goes, tail wagging.

CHRISTINA WHISTLES

And...come running back.

And presenting it nicely. Lovely.

-DENISE:

-'I think Paul is much happier in life now.'

He certainly seems it.

He...

He just really seems to be a different person again.

I've seen him working

and you can tell he absolutely throws himself into it. He loves it.

'I'm so privileged'

to be at the position now where I enjoy my family.

I enjoy my friends again.

I had to go through

to be able to get to this stage of my life where I am now.

Paul had a job that he thought defined him.

He was good at it and he enjoyed it.

But then, along came the diagnosis

which meant he wasn't going to be doing that job any more.

It almost broke him. But now, with a lot of help,

he's in a much better place.

Time now to return to the deceitful world of our greedy scroungers.

Worthing Council fraud investigators

are looking into the case of Jacqueline Fox.

On her claim forms, she purported to be a single mother

raising three kids, needing support from the council and the DWP.

But the investigators received a tip-off alleging that

her partner, who'd left the house in 2003, had moved back in.

We don't consider this to be a mistake because she's signed

a declaration saying she's given the true and complete facts.

Over a period of seven years, she'd claimed

around £67,000 in benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions

and Worthing Council.

but the team had already discovered two things.

Firstly, that her

supposedly ex-partner's wages were going into her bank account

and that she'd bought him a car,

which was registered at her address.

Now they needed to find proof that the tip-off held weight

and that her partner had moved back in with Jacqueline.

Dave and his team had enough evidence to justify a raid.

So they immediately drafted in the police.

We tend to get the police involved when we have a potentially

serious benefit fraud which involves a large amount of public funds.

And the police have, obviously, a power of arrest

and a power of search which assists us greatly.

In June 2011, police and Worthing Council

conducted an early morning raid at Ms Fox's house.

We were hoping that we would find

further documentational evidence within the house.

The raid was the only chance the team had

of getting hold of hard evidence

that Jacqueline's partner lived with her

and brought an income into the household.

Police and benefit officers attended this address, knocked on the door

the door was answered by the alleged partner in his pyjamas,

who to the officer said, "I'm only visiting."

So, Ms Fox's partner denied living there,

despite being in his pyjamas.

Police immediately found what they were looking for.

The raid was very successful.

Photographs were taken of the evidence.

Certain documents were seized

and there were photographs within the house,

men's clothing in the wardrobe -

plenty of instances of male occupation in the house.

Well, we were very happy with... It was a multi-agency raid.

The police, the Department for Work and Pensions

and ourselves raided the property

and found exactly what we expected to find,

which is two people living together and breaking the benefit rules.

If it wasn't enough proof that her partner answered the door,

they also found Jacqueline's partner's passport

and other documentation,

which proved he'd been living there permanently.

With overwhelming evidence,

Jacqueline Fox and her partner were arrested.

It was about time that Jacqueline explained herself

and Dave got her straight in for an interview under caution.

At the police station, both parties where interviewed by benefit offices.

Mrs Fox basically denied the allegation

and made a prepared statement

to the effect that her partner

had moved out in 2003,

which is why she claimed the benefits. But that thereafter,

he had come and stayed at periods of time,

but she was unable to give exact dates

or for how long these periods of time were.

This explanation would have been all right

if there wasn't evidence already obtained, that he was living at

the premises permanently, and all the time.

So they'd proved that Jacqueline was living with her partner

and they knew he was working. But the team didn't stop there,

they'd also gathered evidence that proved

her financial profile just didn't add up.

We conducted a financial assessment of her bank accounts,

which showed that her expenditure

greatly exceeded her benefit income.

That suggested that she had undeclared income,

which she had not told us about.

Dave could prove she'd lied to gain benefits.

He had an undeclared bank account

with her partner's wages going into it every week,

a vehicle she'd bought for him,

registered at her address, and evidence that he lived there.

Now her partner was in no way involved with the actual fraud,

but after nine years of playing the system,

it was time for Jacqueline's day in court.

Not only did we find the evidence,

not only did we have a successful raid,

but we convinced Mrs Fox that she should plead guilty in court

and therefore save a great deal of money in the prosecution.

She was convinced that we had the evidence against her.

In May 2012, Jacqueline Fox pleaded guilty to

seven counts of benefit fraud.

The judge sentenced Mrs Fox to 52 weeks in prison

but suspended it for two years on condition that she

completed 120 hours' community work.

But what about all the money that she'd fraudulently claimed?

Nine years of cheating the system meant that Jacqueline Fox

ended up being ordered to pay back a whopping £65,000

to the Department for Work and Pensions and Worthing Council.

And they didn't stop there.

She was also forced to pay £9,000 for court costs.

It was a great result.

Fox had been caught out. There was only one way

she could pay up. She had to sell her house.

The fraud team at Worthing once again sprung into action.

The council were going to apply for a confiscation order

so that Mrs Fox could not sell her house without the monies

being repaid to the necessary authorities.

However it was established that she already had the house on the market,

so rather than do a confiscation order,

a block was put on the Land Registry,

which means that she could not sell the house without first paying

the Department of Work and Pensions and the council back the monies

from the proceeds.

It can take up to ten years to get the money back in some cases

because the people we're trying to

get it back from haven't got that much.

She repaid the Department for Work and Pensions

over £59,000 and the council in excess of £7,000.

So having ensured Ms Fox couldn't run off with

the proceeds of her house sale,

Worthing's fraud team and the Department for Work and Pensions

got back every single penny that she'd fraudulently claimed.

'I would say it's a very dangerous game to play.

'We have huge amounts of information coming in to us

'and I don't think many people get away with it.'

You will pay a heavy price for trying to cheat the Government.

So, the "fantastic" Mrs Fox wasn't cunning enough to escape

the fraud investigators.

They tracked her down and forced her to repay every penny

she owed back into the public purse.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd