0:00:02 > 0:00:05Think about it. What would you do if you had a bad run of luck?
0:00:05 > 0:00:11The chances are that you'd end up turning to government agencies for a bit of help.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14I think the social welfare system is a real blessing.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16It shouldn't be taken for granted, it shouldn't be abused.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21My husband is disabled. Without the benefits system, we would've found things very difficult.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26Here in the UK, millions of us need to ask for help every year
0:00:26 > 0:00:29in the form of benefits, legal aid and healthcare.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34But there are some people who are out there to cheat the system out of as much as they can.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39They're cheating the people who pay into the system, the general public.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42How are these people managing to get away with this?
0:00:42 > 0:00:45But those people who are trying to get rich from the public purse
0:00:45 > 0:00:48are now being sniffed out by investigators
0:00:48 > 0:00:51who want to make sure that as much money as possible
0:00:51 > 0:00:53is available to those who need it.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57This is the world of Saints And Scroungers.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04'Coming up, the scroungers who constantly try to fiddle the system.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06'One elusive document stands in the way of proving
0:01:06 > 0:01:10'that a widow claiming benefits is in fact married.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:14What we really needed to prove the marriage had taken place was a copy of the marriage certificate.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18'And an ex-footballer claiming he could barely walk
0:01:18 > 0:01:21'turns out to have twinkle toes.'
0:01:21 > 0:01:25Mr Lawson was regularly seen getting out and in cars,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30carrying step ladders and loading paint tins out and in the boot of the car.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32'Then there are those people who deserve the public's help.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35'We meet the qualified college-leaver
0:01:35 > 0:01:38'who struggles to find work in the economic downturn.'
0:01:38 > 0:01:40I felt like I was never going to be able to get a job
0:01:40 > 0:01:44and I was going to be unemployed for a long time, which was very upsetting.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Losing a partner after years of marriage can be incredibly tough
0:01:54 > 0:01:59and almost the last thing you want to think about when you're grieving is paying the bills,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02but it still has to be done. That's where benefits can help out,
0:02:02 > 0:02:06to get you through the tough times till you're back on your feet again.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10But one widow may have grieved a little bit too long.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15'Meet Theresa Aldous, a loving grandmother sharing a council house
0:02:15 > 0:02:19'with her daughter and grandchild. In 1997,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22'her late husband, Mr Aldous, passed away,
0:02:22 > 0:02:27'and in 2002, she started claiming benefits from the government and local council.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31'Based in the borough of Croydon, London's second most populated borough
0:02:31 > 0:02:35'with approximately 324,000 people,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39'Theresa Aldous was one of many claiming a little bit of extra help.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43'I've come to meet investigations manager David Hogan
0:02:43 > 0:02:45'at Croydon Council's fraud department
0:02:45 > 0:02:48'to see if there's more to it than meets the eye.'
0:02:48 > 0:02:51- Tell me about Theresa Aldous. - When we examined our records
0:02:51 > 0:02:55and looked at this claim, Theresa Aldous was somebody who was
0:02:55 > 0:02:59looking to us to help her to cover her rent costs
0:02:59 > 0:03:03with housing benefit and her council tax costs. She was also in receipt of widows' pension,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06which she was receiving from the Department for Work and Pensions.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10This all sounds perfectly reasonable, but I take it it's not.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14An anonymous tip-off said she hadn't lived at the property for nearly five years
0:03:14 > 0:03:19and that she had, in fact, remarried a Mr Martin and was living with him in his house.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22'If the tip-off was true,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'it meant Aldous was committing two separate offences.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30'Firstly, if she'd been living in Richard Martin's home since 2002,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34'she'd been receiving housing benefit for the Aldous family home
0:03:34 > 0:03:36'that she was not entitled to.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41'Secondly, if four years earlier she allegedly married Richard Martin,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44'who was in full-time employment, she would not have been entitled
0:03:44 > 0:03:48'to the widows' pension she applied for in June 2002.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52'If true, these were massive offences.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55'So on 13th June 2006,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59'David sent some colleagues to pay Aldous a visit.'
0:03:59 > 0:04:02She told the investigators that she wasn't married to Mr Martin,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05that they were just friends. She went on to say that
0:04:05 > 0:04:09she does occasionally stay at his house, but that's to look after his daughter,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11because Mr Martin wasn't very well.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14'Theresa Aldous had been deaf since childhood,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18'so the investigators made sure she understood everything being alleged,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23'but Aldous was adamant that the fraud team had been given the wrong information.'
0:04:23 > 0:04:28We decided to close the case because there wasn't sufficient evidence to support the tip-off,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31but also, Aldous had made a written statement to us
0:04:31 > 0:04:34that everything that she had told us at that point was true.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39'Satisfied with the results, the team focused on other cases.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43'But just over a year later, they received a second anonymous tip-off.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48'The information was handed to anti-fraud officer Gail Campbell,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50'who reopened the case.'
0:04:50 > 0:04:54When we received a second tip-off, there was the same allegation,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57that the marriage had taken place, but there was more information
0:04:57 > 0:05:02that the partner had died outside the UK
0:05:02 > 0:05:07and it gave us the details of the undertaker that was to deal with the funeral arrangements.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11'The second tip-off alleged that Theresa Aldous and Richard Martin
0:05:11 > 0:05:15'married on the Greek island of Crete in June 2002.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20'But now it appeared that, sadly, Mr Martin had also died on the island
0:05:20 > 0:05:23'in August 2006.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25'Lots of allegations but not a lot of evidence.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28'So Gail got in touch with the UK-based undertaker
0:05:28 > 0:05:33'to see if there was any paperwork that might reveal Richard Martin's next of kin.'
0:05:33 > 0:05:37The file contained a copy of the Greek death certificate,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39the date of death was confirmed,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and with that death certificate, there were other documents
0:05:42 > 0:05:46that were necessary for the body to be returned to the UK.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50'When Gail inspected the documents more closely,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53'she noticed that they'd been signed by a Theresa Martin,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56'who also used Richard Martin's address as her own.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00'Suspicious. But it still didn't prove that it was Aldous
0:06:00 > 0:06:05'until Gail recognised a similarity to her council claims.'
0:06:05 > 0:06:08The handwriting on the forms at the undertaker's
0:06:08 > 0:06:12was compared to the handwriting that we saw on the benefit forms,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15and in my opinion, it was the same handwriting.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18The signatures were very similar, even though the names were different.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22'So, we have Theresa Aldous, whose husband, Mr Aldous,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24'passed away in 1997.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29'She's claiming widows' pension as well as housing and council tax benefits
0:06:29 > 0:06:31'to help her pay for the Aldous family home.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'But now we also have Theresa Martin
0:06:34 > 0:06:38'who'd allegedly been married to and lived with Richard Martin
0:06:38 > 0:06:40'since June 2002
0:06:40 > 0:06:43'and recently returned his body to the UK
0:06:43 > 0:06:46'after he passed away in Crete in August 2006.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50'If Aldous and Martin were the same woman,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52'then she'd lost two husbands in nine years,
0:06:52 > 0:06:58'but this doesn't explain why she'd been claiming nearly £15,000 of widows' pension
0:06:58 > 0:07:01'from the Department for Work and Pensions
0:07:01 > 0:07:03'or nearly £15,000 worth of housing benefits
0:07:03 > 0:07:06'from Croydon since 2002.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11'So now the authorities thought Mrs Aldous was married to Richard Martin,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16'Gail needed hard evidence to confirm they were, in fact, the same person.'
0:07:16 > 0:07:18What we really needed to prove the marriage had taken place
0:07:18 > 0:07:22was a copy of the marriage certificate, and that would be absolute proof
0:07:22 > 0:07:26that the marriage had taken place and then we could progress the investigation.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31'So, the quest was on to find a key piece of evidence in a foreign country.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34'Gail had her work cut out.'
0:07:35 > 0:07:39I contacted the Passport and Documents Service Group
0:07:39 > 0:07:42at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
0:07:42 > 0:07:45and asked their advice as to how we can get a copy of the certificate.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48They wrote back to me and suggested I tried another agency.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I then wrote to the other agency and they told me that they could help
0:07:52 > 0:07:56but they needed to know exactly where the marriage took place on Crete,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00and once I can get that information, they should be able to get me a copy of the certificate.
0:08:00 > 0:08:06'Trying to find the crucial marriage certificate was no easy matter.'
0:08:07 > 0:08:10I was a bit concerned that we would never find proof
0:08:10 > 0:08:13that the marriage had taken place. I made further enquiries
0:08:13 > 0:08:17with people that knew the couple,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21erm, anybody that I thought might have the information,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25and eventually the information came to light
0:08:25 > 0:08:29and we were able then to make the enquiry to the Foreign Office.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32'Now Gail had the location in Crete,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36'she was one step closer to getting the important marriage certificate.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40'But at the same time, she was also stepping into a bureaucratic process
0:08:40 > 0:08:43'that would cross borders.'
0:08:43 > 0:08:45They told me what I needed to do.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47It involved filling in a lengthy form
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and they asked me for a fee of £145.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Once I submitted that, there was no guarantee
0:08:54 > 0:08:57that they'd be able to track the marriage certificate
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and they said I'd need to wait until they got back in touch with me.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05'And that was all they could do, wait.'
0:09:06 > 0:09:11So, how crucial a piece of evidence was the marriage certificate for you?
0:09:11 > 0:09:16Well, this was the one thing that was critical in proving that Theresa Aldous and Theresa Martin
0:09:16 > 0:09:18were in fact the same person.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It would've been hard going in court without that.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23OK. And as a team, you're sitting here
0:09:23 > 0:09:28knowing that there's one piece of evidence that you need that you won't necessarily get.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30Yeah, a lot of work had gone into this investigation
0:09:30 > 0:09:32and it is a very tense wait at times like this
0:09:32 > 0:09:36where you're waiting for the one critical piece of evidence to come in.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41'Without the marriage certificate, the team just didn't have a strong enough case.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47'And as we may see later, getting their hands on it wasn't going to be easy.'
0:09:47 > 0:09:51There was no evidence anywhere that this marriage had taken place.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58'For now, though, it's time to say goodbye to the scroungers
0:09:58 > 0:10:01'that are trying to steal from the state's safety net
0:10:01 > 0:10:05'and say hello to those we call our saints, people who do everything they can
0:10:05 > 0:10:09'to make sure others in need of help and struggling to get their lives on track
0:10:09 > 0:10:12'get all the support they need.'
0:10:15 > 0:10:17For young people, it's supposed to be so straightforward.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21All you do is this. You study hard, you get your qualifications
0:10:21 > 0:10:24and then, as they say, the world is your oyster.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Unfortunately, for some people, it doesn't work out like that
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and no matter how hard they graft and how determined they are,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34it can seem like the whole world is against them.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38'When 20-year-old Jamie-Leigh Emmonds left secondary school,
0:10:38 > 0:10:45'she applied for and was accepted onto a two-year NVQ college course in ladies' hairdressing.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48'But it turned out, once she started to look for work,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51'that her chances were drastically reduced
0:10:51 > 0:10:54'cos she'd had no training in cutting men's hair.'
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Well, I thought that was the end for the hairdressing career.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03I didn't think I was going to be able to get a job in a salon at all
0:11:03 > 0:11:06because I had no clue how to do men's hairdressing.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09So it was a bit upsetting.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13'Yes, a disappointment for a young woman who'd known for many years
0:11:13 > 0:11:15'that all she wanted to be was a stylist,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18'as her mum Zoe knew too well.'
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Jamie-Leigh has always wanted to be a hairdresser
0:11:20 > 0:11:24since she was a little girl and used to do her sister's hair,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27straightening my hair, doing plaits,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31trying new hairstyles out, backcombing,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35just basically messing about with hair all the time when she was growing up.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37'Like many college leavers,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40'Jamie-Leigh's motivation for starting her career
0:11:40 > 0:11:43'was mainly to do with gaining her independence.'
0:11:43 > 0:11:48I really wanted to go and earn my own money because I wanted to do things for myself,
0:11:48 > 0:11:53like go away on my own, get my own house eventually, get my own shop eventually,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56do everything on my own, instead of falling back on my parents.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01'And after really buckling down at college and getting her qualifications,
0:12:01 > 0:12:06'the situation she found herself in now, well, it was a bit of a fix.'
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Jamie-Leigh was very frustrated when she couldn't get work.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12She's always been a busy person
0:12:12 > 0:12:16and she became quite mardy and withdrawn in herself.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20And obviously, when there was no work for her, she just used to sit at home
0:12:20 > 0:12:23and watch TV and do nothing with herself.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27'Jamie-Leigh went to her local job centre
0:12:27 > 0:12:31'and was advised to train in barbering. But at the time, there were no government-funded schemes
0:12:31 > 0:12:35'and she couldn't afford the expensive independent courses.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38'Like many young people who leave college with qualifications,
0:12:38 > 0:12:43'Jamie-Leigh found herself unemployable in the field she'd trained in.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47'And it's a scenario that employment skills manager Marc Malloy
0:12:47 > 0:12:50'has seen too often in recent years.'
0:12:50 > 0:12:52It's tough out there at the moment for young people.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55There's high expectations of the type of role they want to go into
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and the salary they want to earn and there just aren't those jobs for them,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02which leads them to be demotivated and to be depressed.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05When young people are at college or in an educational institution,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09they need to be given the basic score, what it means to apply for a job,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13and they need to have realistic expectations of what is out there for them.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15'And Jamie-Leigh's not alone.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19'At the beginning of 2013, nearly a million young people were unemployed.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22'So what are you supposed to do?'
0:13:22 > 0:13:25I think the first place any young person should go to for advice
0:13:25 > 0:13:29is their education provider or even their local job centre,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32and failing that, to go online, there are a variety of sources out there
0:13:32 > 0:13:35that are all geared to helping people make the next step
0:13:35 > 0:13:38towards either education or employment.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42'With her goal of becoming a hairdresser now seemingly unachievable,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46'Jamie-Leigh decided to take any old job she could.'
0:13:46 > 0:13:50I first started working in a shop and I was doing till work,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53stacking shelves, cleaning,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56and then I got another job in a bar,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59still cleaning, collecting glasses.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01While I was still doing these two jobs,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03I was still going to the job centre
0:14:03 > 0:14:06to ask them about barber courses that were available,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09but they didn't really help me much.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11There wasn't any barbering courses going in Doncaster.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14So I carried on with these two jobs
0:14:14 > 0:14:16until something else came available.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20'But she wasn't about to give up on her career,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22'so Jamie-Leigh contacted local salons
0:14:22 > 0:14:26'in the hope of getting practice in cutting men's hair.'
0:14:26 > 0:14:31I found one shop what let me go there two days a week
0:14:31 > 0:14:36to do men's barbering and to gain more experience on men's barbering.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40I offered them that I would go voluntary,
0:14:40 > 0:14:42so they didn't have to pay me for anything I did,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45it was just to gain work experience.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49'However, the shop was lacking one crucial element.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51'Lots of male customers.'
0:14:51 > 0:14:57In that shop, there wasn't many men what came in for their hair doing,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00or women, it wasn't a very busy salon,
0:15:00 > 0:15:05so I thought I wanted something more busier to get my work experience done.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08'After three weeks and hardly any training,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11'Jamie-Leigh cut her losses and returned to the job centre.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14'She was looking for any old job again,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18'but in the meantime, like nearly 400,000 other young people in the UK,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22'she claimed the benefit she was entitled to.'
0:15:22 > 0:15:25I did actually feel I was going to be on the Jobseeker's forever.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28I didn't feel like I was going to be able to get a job anywhere else.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33All I did want to do was hairdressing. I tried my hardest to get a job in a salon.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36'Despite her efforts and determination,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39'there just wasn't a job out there.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42'With 21 percent of 16 to 24-year-olds struggling to find work,
0:15:42 > 0:15:47'Jamie-Leigh's career goals were drifting further and further away.'
0:15:47 > 0:15:50We meet young people all the time, applying away,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53getting interviews, keep getting those knockbacks,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57not through their fault, just through the sheer volume of people that are applying.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01We know it's easy for us to sit here and say, "Keep battling away, a door's going to open"
0:16:01 > 0:16:06but everybody's only human and confidence is going to get knocked. It is a tough labour market.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11'A frustrated Jamie-Leigh wanted to get off Jobseeker's Allowance
0:16:11 > 0:16:14'and start making a living in the hair industry.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17'It's difficult times like this when you really need a mate.'
0:16:19 > 0:16:23I phoned my friend up, cos I was gutted about not getting a job,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28and she actually told me there was jobs in York available doing hairdressing.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33'So now there was the potential to try and get work hair-styling,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35'but it would mean moving to York, away from her family
0:16:35 > 0:16:39'and the home she'd lived in all her life.'
0:16:39 > 0:16:41It was a big decision for me to make.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44I had to sit down with my mum and dad and say,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46"This is the only way I'm going to get a job."
0:16:46 > 0:16:50I was absolutely devastated, my little girl going off to pastures new.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53I really didn't want her to go and I was very scared
0:16:53 > 0:16:55cos she was only 18 years old,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58but I knew there was nothing in Doncaster for her.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02It was the most upsetting thing I've had to do is leave my mum and dad.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07I did not have a choice because there wasn't any jobs going where my mum and dad live.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12So if I wanted a job then I had to do something about it.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17'Despite the emotional wrench of leaving her family and friends in Doncaster,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20'Jamie-Leigh left for York.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22'She moved in with a friend and her family
0:17:22 > 0:17:28'and hoped to get a hairdressing job quickly so she could contribute to the household bills.'
0:17:28 > 0:17:32When I moved up here, I did think I was going to get a job straight away,
0:17:32 > 0:17:38but I didn't. It was horrible having to go to the job centre to find a job. It wasn't nice.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44Within any town or city, you always think, you know, there is no work for them to do,
0:17:44 > 0:17:49and I'd rather her be at home not working than be in a strange city.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Talk about frustrating. All you want to do is earn a wage
0:17:53 > 0:17:57and pay your own way. On top of that, you've gained a qualification
0:17:57 > 0:18:01and moved away from the town where you've lived your whole life
0:18:01 > 0:18:03to try and find work.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05But even though you've moved all that distance,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08you still can't seem to find a job.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12'Before too long, Jamie-Leigh's hopes of becoming a hairdresser
0:18:12 > 0:18:14'had turned into a five-to-ten-hour-a-week
0:18:14 > 0:18:17'part-time nightmare in another high-street retailer.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22'In fact, the hours were so few, she had to claim Jobseeker's Allowance again.'
0:18:22 > 0:18:25I felt like I was never going to be able to get a job
0:18:25 > 0:18:29and I was going to be unemployed for a long time, which was very upsetting.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34'But Jamie-Leigh had faced a lot of challenges and she wasn't about to give up yet.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36'She decided to stick it out in York.'
0:18:37 > 0:18:42She had some low moods, but she's a determined person so I knew she wouldn't give up.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47'Unlike a lot of people, Jamie-Leigh had decided what she wanted to be in life from a very early age.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50'She'd gone to college and got the qualification
0:18:50 > 0:18:53'she thought she needed to achieve that.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56'But when she went into the market, she found she was unemployable.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59'Jamie-Leigh had even moved away from home to achieve her goals.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03'But now, after a further six months of claiming Jobseeker's,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07'she was referred to Bruce Murray, who was quickly becoming her last chance of help.'
0:19:07 > 0:19:11I'm a personal advisor. I deal with customers under 25
0:19:11 > 0:19:14that have become eligible for the new Job Centre Plus Wage Incentive.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16'As we'll find out later,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18'Bruce had a very different approach
0:19:18 > 0:19:21'to getting Jamie-Leigh the training she needed.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30'Now, from those people who really need the help of the state
0:19:30 > 0:19:33'to people who set out to abuse the system.'
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Here in the UK, the Department for Work and Pensions
0:19:37 > 0:19:40has a safety net in place to help those
0:19:40 > 0:19:43who are genuinely diagnosed with an illness or disability.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46You could end up with a blue badge to help you get around,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51a much-needed cash injection or even home help, and that's only fair.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55But what isn't fair is when some people
0:19:55 > 0:19:58try to use that safety net to systematically scam
0:19:58 > 0:20:00you and I, the taxpayer.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06'One man claiming these benefits was 52-year-old Norman Lawson.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09'He was injured badly during a football match in 1992,
0:20:09 > 0:20:14'and as a result, surgeons had to remove part of his lower leg.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18'Dr Javid Abdelmoneim is an independent medical expert
0:20:18 > 0:20:21'with experience of treating injuries like Lawson's.'
0:20:21 > 0:20:25The worst-case scenario for a lower leg in jury in football
0:20:25 > 0:20:28could be an open fracture of the limb
0:20:28 > 0:20:31which is where the bones actually break and rip through the skin
0:20:31 > 0:20:36and are exposed to the environment. That requires complicated reconstructive surgery
0:20:36 > 0:20:38to avoid infection and skin-grafting.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Rehabilitation after a leg injury that required surgery,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44you could expect to spend about six to eight weeks perhaps in plaster
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and need an extended period of physiotherapy thereafter.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50'The injury left Lawson barely able to walk
0:20:50 > 0:20:53'and he began claiming Incapacity Benefit
0:20:53 > 0:20:56'and Disability Living Allowance at the higher rate,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00'worth £14,000 over the years.'
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Disability benefits are provided based on two facets,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05your care needs and your mobility needs.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08'Lawson was claiming a higher rate of mobility
0:21:08 > 0:21:11'because he said he couldn't walk without the use of a stick
0:21:11 > 0:21:14'and would become very breathless when he tried.'
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Disability benefits are vital in allowing a person to perform
0:21:17 > 0:21:22normal, functional tasks of daily living, walking and care.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25If they were not available, that person would be left in a situation
0:21:25 > 0:21:29where they could not cope, couldn't look after themselves on the most basic level,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32being unable to prepare a meal, go to the toilet and walk.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35That safety net is very important.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38'Fair enough. So why, in 2012,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40'did fraud investigator Jennifer Petrie
0:21:40 > 0:21:43'become suspicious of Norman Lawson?'
0:21:43 > 0:21:46We first came across Mr Lawson
0:21:46 > 0:21:49when investigating another allegation
0:21:49 > 0:21:52and identified that Mr Lawson was working
0:21:52 > 0:21:55as a painter and decorator
0:21:55 > 0:21:57through a company in Forfar.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Subsequent checks of the department records
0:21:59 > 0:22:03reveal that there was only one person of that name and age
0:22:03 > 0:22:06called Norman Lawson in the Dundee area.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10'So, the fraud team had pinpointed their man,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14'but they had to prove that he was in fact mobile and able to work.'
0:22:14 > 0:22:18We decided that the only way to prove whether or not
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Mr Lawson's disability was as severe as he was stating
0:22:22 > 0:22:24was to carry out some surveillance.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27'The team started working undercover
0:22:27 > 0:22:30'and unbeknown to Lawson, were tracking his movements
0:22:30 > 0:22:32'over a one-month period.'
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Mr Lawson was regularly seen getting out and in cars,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39carrying step ladders and loading paint tins
0:22:39 > 0:22:43out and in the boot of the car. He was also seen
0:22:43 > 0:22:47getting out and in of painters' white overalls quite easily.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52'Our independent doctor is used to treating injuries like Mr Lawson's
0:22:52 > 0:22:56'and we've asked him to comment on the secret surveillance footage.'
0:22:56 > 0:23:01He's moving both his legs with normal power, normal coordination and speed.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04There doesn't seem to be any restriction to his movement at all.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07The exercise that he's going to undertake
0:23:07 > 0:23:11in that he's doing painting and decorating
0:23:11 > 0:23:15could be considered to be moderately strenuous
0:23:15 > 0:23:17for someone with a debilitating leg injury.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21'Unbelievable. He's a fully-functioning tradesman
0:23:21 > 0:23:24'but he's been claiming that he can barely walk.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26'It's now time for the fraud investigators
0:23:26 > 0:23:29'to gather all of their evidence.'
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Following the surveillance, we then gathered further witness statements
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and witness testimony from some of the houses
0:23:35 > 0:23:39that Mr Lawson had visited to carry out the painting and decorating.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42This then provided us with sufficient evidence
0:23:42 > 0:23:47to submit the case to the decision maker for a decision on the benefit
0:23:47 > 0:23:50and calculation of the over-payments.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54'Lawson had started painting and decorating in 2004
0:23:54 > 0:23:58'and the authorities decided that he'd claimed over £14,000
0:23:58 > 0:24:01'that he was not entitled to.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05'Jennifer decided it was time for a face-to-face meeting.'
0:24:05 > 0:24:07On receipt of the over-payment calculation,
0:24:07 > 0:24:11we then invited Mr Lawson in for an interview under caution.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15At the interview under caution, Mr Lawson admitted that he knew
0:24:15 > 0:24:17that he should report changes of circumstances,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20including any work that he had carried out.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23He denied that he had carried out any work at all.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26'But the team weren't about to be swindled
0:24:26 > 0:24:29'and had the surveillance footage up their sleeve.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32'Lawson couldn't argue with that and he had to change his plea.'
0:24:34 > 0:24:37He did admit that he had carried out this work
0:24:37 > 0:24:42and that his health condition had improved and he had failed to report this.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45'It was exactly the result Jennifer was hoping for
0:24:45 > 0:24:48'and it meant the fraud team could prepare for court.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51'The date was set for April 2013.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54'But what would be the outcome of the trial?'
0:24:54 > 0:24:58At the final court appearance, Mr Lawson pleaded guilty.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03He was then sentenced to a six-month custodial sentence.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Prior to the final court appearance,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Mr Lawson had started to repay his overpayment of benefit.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13'But the game was up for Lawson.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15'This lot don't mess around, you know?'
0:25:16 > 0:25:19All benefit fraud is stealing from the taxpayer.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22And people who commit benefit fraud will be caught.
0:25:22 > 0:25:28'If you're thinking about faking disability and defrauding the authorities,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32'it's worth thinking twice because there could be a prison sentence at the end of it.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39'It's time to say goodbye to the fiddling fraudsters
0:25:39 > 0:25:43'and welcome back those people who need the public's help the most.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47'After getting a qualification at college in ladies' hairdressing,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50'Jamie-Leigh struggled to find work in her hometown of Doncaster
0:25:50 > 0:25:53'cos she had no experience of cutting men's hair.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57'In the hope of getting a job, she moved to York,
0:25:57 > 0:26:02'but instead of finding hairdressing work, she spent the next six months needing income support.'
0:26:02 > 0:26:06I came to York to obviously get a job in a salon
0:26:06 > 0:26:09but couldn't get one, so I got a job in a shop doing ten hours a week.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Life was a bit difficult at that point.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17'Because Jamie-Leigh had been on benefits in York for over six months
0:26:17 > 0:26:19'she became eligible to apply for a new scheme,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22'aimed at getting young people into work.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26'And her job centre advisor, Bruce Murray, was determined to make it happen.'
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Bruce is a nice, funny guy. I get along with him really well.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36But he pushed me so hard to find a job that I liked going to see him to find work.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39When I first met Jamie, it's fair to say, like many of our customers,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42she was in that vicious circle of really wanting to work,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46was trying really hard, but the lack of experience was counting against her, really.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51There's no doubt, her confidence was getting knocked. She was getting increasingly fed up, really.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55We had to sort of build up her confidence, and the Wage Incentive helps us do that.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59'With the Wage Incentive Scheme at his disposal,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02'Bruce could come up with a plan for Jamie-Leigh
0:27:02 > 0:27:05'that would hopefully make her more employable.'
0:27:05 > 0:27:07Bruce's idea was simple.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13He'd get her a spot as an apprentice at a male hairdressers.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16They would benefit from the Wage Incentive Scheme
0:27:16 > 0:27:20and she would pick up the experience she so desperately needed.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25'The Wage Incentive was introduced in April 2012,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29'and is an initiative designed to help young people get off benefits and into full-time work.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33'The job centre pays £2,275
0:27:33 > 0:27:36'to employers who take on unemployed workers
0:27:36 > 0:27:38'who've been looking for work for over six months
0:27:38 > 0:27:41'and are between the ages of 18 to 24.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46'They also have to work 30 hours or more a week for a six-month period.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49'The incentive helps small businesses pay wages
0:27:49 > 0:27:53'and helps young workers get the experience they need.'
0:27:53 > 0:27:56When I first met Jamie, it became apparent that it'd be really nice
0:27:56 > 0:28:00if we could use the qualification she gained to try and get her a job in a barbers or a hairdressers.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04So we looked at her CV, made sure that was up to date.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08And then we went through all the information we had on available vacancies.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12As luck would have it, there was a job in a barbers shop nearby.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16'It was a great opportunity for Jamie-Leigh.'
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Getting a job in the barbers would mean that I had the training behind me forever,
0:28:20 > 0:28:24and then eventually I could go back into doing ladies, as well.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28Barbering is the next best thing to actually being a hairdresser.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31So when she told me that she'd got this opportunity,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34I told her to grab it with both hands.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38'With so much competition for jobs among college leavers,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41'Jamie-Leigh knew she had to act quickly.'
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Jamie came to the job centre, suited and booted, CV modified,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48and we decided we were going to go together to the barbers shop.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51When I first went to the barbers,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Bruce introduced himself from the job centre
0:28:53 > 0:28:56and introduced me as a candidate for the Wage Incentive Scheme.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00He told the man who ran the barbers and the guy who was working there
0:29:00 > 0:29:05all about the Wage Incentive. We gave our details
0:29:05 > 0:29:08and the boss said he would have a chat with his work colleagues
0:29:08 > 0:29:11and see if I was capable for the job
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and that he'd give me a ring back the same day. When I left, I was very nervous,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18if I was going to get a phone call back saying "Yes," or a phone call back saying "No."
0:29:19 > 0:29:23'The assistant manager at the barbers was Chris Panayiotou.'
0:29:24 > 0:29:27Jamie-Leigh gave a very good first impression.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31Her enthusiasm, you could tell in the way she presented herself
0:29:31 > 0:29:36that she really wanted to be a barber, that it wasn't just another day out looking for a job,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39that she came in here with that kind of enthusiasm
0:29:39 > 0:29:43that says, "You should take me on, I'm ready, I'm willing to work."
0:29:43 > 0:29:47'A very nervous Jamie-Leigh got a phone call later that day.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49'And it was good news.'
0:29:49 > 0:29:52That was like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Because I'd actually found a job I really wanted to do and I felt so happy.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00I phoned my mum up and my mum was screaming down the phone saying, "Well done".
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Oh, I was over the moon and Jamie-Leigh was also over the moon
0:30:03 > 0:30:08that she'd finally got a job in something that she really had a passion for.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12'She now had an opportunity to learn how to cut men's hair,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16'the problem that had held her back from getting a job in the first place.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18'But in order to get the training she needed,
0:30:18 > 0:30:23'Jamie-Leigh would have to start at the bottom and work her way up.'
0:30:23 > 0:30:28An apprentice's job in the barber shop is to do first of all the most basic jobs.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Sweeping up, mopping up,
0:30:30 > 0:30:35making teas and coffees and making sure the customers are happy and attended to,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and even while they're waiting, she can make them feel comfortable and welcome.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42And then to learn to cut hair, the first step is just to watch,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46and to concentrate from the start of the haircut, the middle of the cut, to the end of the cut,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48and after that, it's to start practising.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52As the time goes on, I've been standing and watching,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55they've been talking me through step-by-step how to do a haircut.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59And now I'm practising myself on different clients.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02'And for Chris, employee Jamie-Leigh
0:31:02 > 0:31:05'was helping his business to grow.'
0:31:05 > 0:31:08In the economic climate that we live in, it can be difficult
0:31:08 > 0:31:11to find staff and to find the right staff.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15So the Wage Incentive Scheme is a massive help, really.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21They pay for the apprentice to be here. It's a very big help for any business.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26It's a win-win situation. Jamie-Leigh gets to learn a trade, we financially get help
0:31:26 > 0:31:30from the Wage Incentive Scheme to have her here, and so everybody's a winner.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35'The new job meant Jamie-Leigh was now earning a wage at the barbers
0:31:35 > 0:31:39'and no longer needed to claim Jobseeker's Allowance.'
0:31:39 > 0:31:41People like Jamie-Leigh make our job worthwhile, really.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46It's lovely when you see somebody who really wants a job, who's trying really hard.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49To be in that position and to be able to put the pieces into place
0:31:49 > 0:31:51to help her out and get a successful outcome,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55it's quite a privileged position, really, and sometimes we maybe forget that.
0:31:55 > 0:32:01'But Jamie-Leigh hasn't forgotten just who gave her the opportunity to follow her dreams.'
0:32:01 > 0:32:05Thank you very much, Bruce, for all the hard work you've done in getting me my job.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08'So Jamie-Leigh's building on her work experience,
0:32:08 > 0:32:13'adding to her skills and making herself more employable.'
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Jamie-Leigh's doing really well. She was part of the team straight away.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20She can have a bit of banter, she can laugh and joke with us,
0:32:20 > 0:32:25and in the more serious moments when we're explaining to her how to cut hair,
0:32:25 > 0:32:29she's on the ball, and it comes almost second nature to her,
0:32:29 > 0:32:32obviously, because she's got a history in hairdressing.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38'Jamie-Leigh's family have witnessed her struggle first-hand
0:32:38 > 0:32:41'and they are impressed.'
0:32:41 > 0:32:43I'm very proud of her. She's done extremely well.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45She's one in a million.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48'Despite all the ups and downs,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52'Jamie-Leigh is still an ambitious young girl with big dreams.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54'And she's got a long way to go.'
0:32:54 > 0:32:58When I finish this barber course, I want to work in a hairdressers.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01Obviously, then I can build my clients up.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04But then I really do want to have my own business in the future.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07It would make me really happy. It's very important to work hard.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10You have to work hard to get far in life.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12And if you don't work hard, you have nothing.
0:33:12 > 0:33:17For Jamie-Leigh, it was the classic catch-22 situation.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20She needed the experience to get the job,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23but without the job, she couldn't get the experience.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28Thanks to the Wage Incentive Scheme, she ended up picking up those skills
0:33:28 > 0:33:32which hopefully will give her a successful career as a hairdresser.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Who knows, one day she might even have her own salon.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43'Right, from feel good to real greed.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47'Time to revisit the scroungers who are ripping off the taxpayer.
0:33:48 > 0:33:54'In Croydon, Surrey, the fraud investigation team are on the case of Theresa Aldous, a widow,
0:33:54 > 0:34:00'who, since 2002, had received nearly £15,000 worth of widows' pension from the government
0:34:00 > 0:34:06'and nearly £15,000 of housing benefits from Croydon Council.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09'But after two anonymous tip-offs,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13'the team began to suspect that Mrs Aldous was, in fact, Mrs Martin,
0:34:13 > 0:34:18'as allegations suggested she'd married for a second time in 2002
0:34:18 > 0:34:21'but then lost her new husband, Richard Martin,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24'when he passed away in Crete four years later.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27'To make the case watertight,
0:34:27 > 0:34:33'fraud investigator Gail Campbell needed to get hold of a Greek marriage certificate
0:34:33 > 0:34:36'that would prove that five years after her previous husband died,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40'Aldous remarried Richard Martin and moved into his home
0:34:40 > 0:34:44'but continued to claim a widows' pension and benefits
0:34:44 > 0:34:47'to pay for a house that her daughter lived in.'
0:34:47 > 0:34:51When we try to get information from a foreign authority, it's very hit and miss.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55Sometimes you write to them and they don't even respond at all.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58You don't know if you've written to the correct person,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02the correct agency, or they've read it and thought, "I'm not interested."
0:35:02 > 0:35:05You're constantly chasing them.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09'But having contacted the correct agencies and completed the relevant paperwork,
0:35:09 > 0:35:14'Gail was prepared to play a waiting game for a crucial piece of evidence.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17'And two months later, her patience paid off.'
0:35:18 > 0:35:23When the letter came, it had inside it the marriage certificate.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27But the certificate was in Greek.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30So none of us in the office were able to speak Greek,
0:35:30 > 0:35:35and for a moment, it was a bit, "Mm, is this what we're looking for?"
0:35:35 > 0:35:41With the certificate was a letter from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
0:35:41 > 0:35:44to confirm that they had found the certificate of marriage
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and that that was a true copy of the certificate.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52So we didn't need to then get anybody to look at it and confirm that for us.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58'It was a great result for the team who'd been holding out for this key piece of evidence.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01'It proved that Aldous had failed to change her circumstances
0:36:01 > 0:36:05'with both the Department for Work and Pensions, who provided her widows' pension,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08'and Croydon Council, who subsidised her housing.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12'On 6th November 2007,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16'Gail brought Aldous in for an interview under caution.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18'It wasn't exactly smooth sailing.'
0:36:18 > 0:36:23The first interview didn't really result in us getting very much information from Theresa,
0:36:23 > 0:36:28although she was fully aware by that time of why we needed to talk to her.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31She came with a solicitor and her sister.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33The interview with Theresa was slightly different
0:36:33 > 0:36:36to any of the interviews I've ever done before with anybody else
0:36:36 > 0:36:39because Theresa is deaf.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43'The interview took longer than most because Gail had to make sure
0:36:43 > 0:36:47'that Aldous understood everything the investigators were telling her.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49'They'd also agreed to share all their evidence
0:36:49 > 0:36:53'with Aldous's legal representative before they started questioning.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56'This included new information that Aldous had hired a solicitor
0:36:56 > 0:37:00'to activate probate for the estate of Richard Martin,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03'declaring herself his widow.'
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Halfway through the interview, Theresa then became upset
0:37:08 > 0:37:13and it was suggested that the interview should be terminated and then rescheduled.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17'Gail tried to reschedule a second interview with Aldous's solicitor
0:37:17 > 0:37:23'who said she'd better be quick because their client was jetting off on holiday to Crete that weekend.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25'Yeah, it's all right for some.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28'Gail made sure she squeezed Aldous into her busy schedule
0:37:28 > 0:37:32'and grilled her about why she hadn't told the authorities that she'd remarried.'
0:37:32 > 0:37:38She said her husband told her he would tell all the departments
0:37:38 > 0:37:41that needed to know about the marriage and that included
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Department for Work and Pensions and the council.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Apparently he was going to tell these departments because she's deaf.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52Throughout the lengthy interview, she didn't really admit to very much
0:37:52 > 0:37:56but she did admit that a ceremony had taken place in Crete.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59She did say it was a form of wedding
0:37:59 > 0:38:01but it wasn't something that was recognised in the UK.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05We had the evidence that it was a legitimate wedding.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09We had the certificate and it was authenticated by the authorities,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12so that was enough evidence for us
0:38:12 > 0:38:16to have her benefit cancelled back to the date of marriage.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22'Aldous also admitted she'd failed to declare a private pension that belonged to Richard Martin
0:38:22 > 0:38:26'and paid her £146 a month in 2010,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30'as well as the bank account it was paid into.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33'This would've meant she was not entitled to the benefit she was claiming.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37'Richard Martin was never implicated in any of these scams,
0:38:37 > 0:38:43'but the Croydon fraud team had all they needed for a prosecution of Theresa Aldous.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46'Since 2002, she'd fraudulently claimed
0:38:46 > 0:38:49'over £25,000 in housing benefit,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53'almost £3,000 of council tax benefit
0:38:53 > 0:38:58'and nearly £15,000 worth of widows' pension.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02'That's almost a massive £43,000.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05'On 25th April 2012 at Croydon Crown Court,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09'Theresa Aldous pleaded not guilty to the following four charges.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22'She was found guilty of all four charges
0:39:22 > 0:39:26'and sent down for a six-month prison sentence.'
0:39:26 > 0:39:30So Croydon has its conviction, but I'm sensing there's more for you to do.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Well, it was interesting. During the course of the investigation,
0:39:33 > 0:39:35Gail had heard some rumours
0:39:35 > 0:39:38that Aldous had inherited some money.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42OK. So if it's true that there was something she hadn't declared,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45how do you go about chasing that down?
0:39:45 > 0:39:47What I decided to do was get our financial investigator
0:39:47 > 0:39:50to look at it and see if there was any truth in this.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54'Step forward Zoe Neale, a Croydon financial investigator
0:39:54 > 0:39:57'who continued to delve into Aldous's finances
0:39:57 > 0:40:00'while she was serving her prison sentence.'
0:40:00 > 0:40:03In a case like Theresa Aldous,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07Gail and I would work together, but she's looking purely at the benefit offences
0:40:07 > 0:40:10and I'm looking not just at the benefit, but also at the money.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14I'm looking at where does the money come from? Where does the money go to?
0:40:14 > 0:40:17I'm looking for any unexplained cash deposits,
0:40:17 > 0:40:19any unexplained cash withdrawals.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23I'm looking for, does she have mortgages, foreign transactions,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26is she using a money service bureau to move money about?
0:40:26 > 0:40:30I'm looking for what has she gained? Has she got a house? Has she got a car?
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Has she been buying jewellery?
0:40:32 > 0:40:36Anything which would lead me to think she's been disposing either of her assets
0:40:36 > 0:40:39or trying to trace what has she gained as a result of her offending?
0:40:39 > 0:40:45'Zoe discovered that Aldous had received two instalments of inheritance from Richard Martin
0:40:45 > 0:40:48'which totalled £43,000.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50'By 2012, six years after his death,
0:40:50 > 0:40:56'Aldous only had £19,000 left, although she admitted in court
0:40:56 > 0:40:59'to spending £15,000 on her Crete wedding.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05'After Aldous's sentencing, Croydon Council issued a confiscation order
0:41:05 > 0:41:08'under the Proceeds of Crime Act for £19,000,
0:41:08 > 0:41:12'the amount of inheritance Aldous had left.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16'She was given six months to pay or she faced going back to prison.'
0:41:16 > 0:41:20At the confiscation hearing, the judge specifically said to her
0:41:20 > 0:41:23and to her barrister, "How can she repay the money?"
0:41:23 > 0:41:26And they specifically said the family would repay the money.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32'However, three months after the deadline, in June 2013,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34'the Croydon investigators were back at court.'
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Today we're at Westminster Magistrates Court.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43We're here for an enforcement hearing about Theresa Martin, also known as Theresa Aldous.
0:41:43 > 0:41:49In September last year, she was due to pay a confiscation order of £19,000.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52However, we've been informed she hasn't repaid the money.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54So we're here today for an enforcement hearing
0:41:54 > 0:41:57for her to explain to the court why this has not been paid.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00The best outcome would be if they pay the money today.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03The worst case scenario is she doesn't turn up,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07we then have to speak to somebody about trying to trace her.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11'Theresa Aldous did turn up to the hearing.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14'But the Croydon investigators didn't get the outcome they were hoping for.'
0:42:15 > 0:42:21The court asked why she's not made any effort to repay the £19,000 she owes.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26Erm, and the defence lawyer said that's because she doesn't have the money.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29'A disappointing result for the team,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32'but they remain confident that one way or another
0:42:32 > 0:42:35'justice will be served.'
0:42:35 > 0:42:38At the next hearing, if she has still not paid anything
0:42:38 > 0:42:40or has made very limited efforts to repay,
0:42:40 > 0:42:44the most viable alternative is for her to serve her default sentence,
0:42:44 > 0:42:46which is nine months in prison.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49And while she's in prison, the debt still keeps accruing,
0:42:49 > 0:42:52and interest accrues, so when she comes out of prison,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55she'll still owe us the money, plus the interest on top.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59She's done the crime and now, unless she pays the money back,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02she could end up doing even more time.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06As to the investigators at Croydon Council, well, they're like a dog with a bone,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10trying to claw back every single penny that Theresa Aldous owes
0:43:10 > 0:43:14so it can go back where it belongs, in the public pot.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd