0:00:02 > 0:00:05What would you do if you had a bad run of luck?
0:00:05 > 0:00:10The chances are that you'd end up turning to government agencies for a bit of help.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12We're very lucky to have a welfare state
0:00:12 > 0:00:16and I think a lot of people don't appreciate it.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20My husband is disabled. Without the benefit system, we would've found things difficult.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Here in the UK, millions of us need to ask for help every year
0:00:25 > 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 > 0:00:37Benefit cheats are criminals
0:00:37 > 0:00:39and they should be treated accordingly.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42How are these people managing to get away with this?
0:00:42 > 0:00:46But those people who are trying to get rich from the public purse
0:00:46 > 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 > 0:00:54is available to those who need it.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57This is the world of Saints And Scroungers.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Coming up, the scroungers out to beat the system...
0:01:04 > 0:01:08A single mum on benefits with hundreds of thousands of pounds in the bank...
0:01:08 > 0:01:13Rashpal had just over £270,000 in her bank.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17A lot of the money seemed to be going towards building up a property portfolio,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19both here in the UK and abroad.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23And we meet someone who rightly deserves a helping hand -
0:01:23 > 0:01:26a young man trying to pull his life together
0:01:26 > 0:01:28after battling with drink and drugs.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30It just felt absolutely unreal.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35I felt as if, "How can I possibly carry on? How can I pick this up?"
0:01:35 > 0:01:38There was no way I could see...
0:01:38 > 0:01:42of getting any help of going anywhere in life.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Now, we all need a roof over our heads,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50and while many of us are lucky enough to own our own homes,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54there are some people who need help paying the rent.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57If it's the council that's providing that help, though,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59you've got to be honest with them.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01In Sandwell in the West Midlands,
0:02:01 > 0:02:07the drive to clamp down on housing benefit cheats comes from the very top.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10We have a zero-tolerance approach to fraud.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13For many people in Sandwell
0:02:13 > 0:02:16who don't claim what they're entitled to,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19we help them to get what they are,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23but for those people who commit tenancy fraud,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I'm interested in making sure that all of those issues are dealt with.
0:02:27 > 0:02:33The council's Fraud Team regularly scrutinises benefit claims in proactive initiatives,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38and it was during one of these exercises they came across a very unusual case.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Meet 45-year-old Rashpal Kaur,
0:02:42 > 0:02:44a single mother living on income support
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and receiving housing and council tax benefit
0:02:47 > 0:02:50from Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55She appeared to be the kind of person that taxpayers should be giving a helping hand to.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Rashpal had been claiming benefits since 1995.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04She was claiming as a single, unemployed mother with one child.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08On the forms completed for the council for housing benefit,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Rashpal stated that she wasn't related to the landlords in any way,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13and neither were her children.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Between 2003 and 2007,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Rashpal Kaur received nearly £25,000 in housing benefit.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Nothing seemed to be wrong with her claim,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26until fraud investigators launched a specific drive
0:03:26 > 0:03:29into a type of benefit payment that she was being given.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34Ian Scarrett was in charge of the team that looked into her case.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38We'd identified a couple of cases
0:03:38 > 0:03:41where landlords were related to tenants
0:03:41 > 0:03:43and that hadn't been declared.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48What we thought we would do would be to carry out a fraud drive
0:03:48 > 0:03:51to look at people who...
0:03:51 > 0:03:55who may be related to the landlord in some way.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58After trawling through housing benefits files
0:03:58 > 0:04:01looking for signs of unusual tenancy agreements,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Rashpal pinged up on the investigators' radar.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Rashpal Kaur was interesting to the council
0:04:07 > 0:04:10because she'd been at the property for a number of years,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13the rent continued to be the same figure
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and the landlord had changed in that time
0:04:17 > 0:04:21and we hadn't had notification of it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Rashpal was married but separated from her husband.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28As a single parent, she'd been claiming benefits for over a decade.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32She'd filled in two applications for housing and council tax benefit
0:04:32 > 0:04:35from two addresses in Sandwell,
0:04:35 > 0:04:36one for St Christopher Close
0:04:36 > 0:04:39and the other in Europa Avenue.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43The investigators' initial enquiries focused on finding out
0:04:43 > 0:04:46exactly who owned these properties.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50We didn't have application forms for Rashpal going back to '95,
0:04:50 > 0:04:55so we were only able to get evidence from 2003.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00And Ian's team didn't waste any time in doing just that.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Rashpal had received nearly 25 grand in housing benefit
0:05:03 > 0:05:07from Sandwell Council since 2003.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13The investigators needed to make sure that this claim was legit.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Once we looked at Rashpal Kaur and were suspicious about her claim,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20there were several different checks
0:05:20 > 0:05:23that we would carry out simultaneously
0:05:23 > 0:05:26to enable us to make a decision as to whether there was
0:05:26 > 0:05:27further information we'd need -
0:05:27 > 0:05:31things like birth certificates,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34credit checks, Land Registry checks.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39Investigators were searching for any evidence that might support
0:05:39 > 0:05:44their hunch that Rashpal's circumstances were not exactly as set out on her claim form.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47It wasn't long before they did.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50The credit check that we received
0:05:50 > 0:05:52showed that she'd got joint credit with a male.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56She hadn't declared a male as living at the property.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00We checked the male's details at the address
0:06:00 > 0:06:04and he came up as having applied for credit in his own right
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and with a partner - Rashpal.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Hold on! A man was claiming to be living at her address
0:06:12 > 0:06:15when she was meant to be single!
0:06:15 > 0:06:19The name on the credit forms was her estranged husband,
0:06:19 > 0:06:21but he was meant to be out of the picture.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Alarm bells started to ring for the investigators
0:06:24 > 0:06:26and further checks were needed.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32The Land Registry check for the two addresses
0:06:32 > 0:06:37showed people that we were then aware of
0:06:37 > 0:06:40were either related to Rashpal,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43either by being the father of her,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46or the brother of her, or married to her.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Over the years, the two properties that Rashpal had been using
0:06:50 > 0:06:51to claim benefits from
0:06:51 > 0:06:55had changed ownership a number of times.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00Her home at St Christopher Close was owned individually and jointly by her father and husband,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and her home at Europa Avenue was owned at different times
0:07:02 > 0:07:06by her father and brother and her father and husband.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10It was time for investigators to do what they do best -
0:07:10 > 0:07:12dig a bit deeper.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17We carried out some checks, birth certificate checks, firstly on Rashpal,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21and that showed details of her parents.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24That was interesting to us
0:07:24 > 0:07:28because the father was regularly the landlord
0:07:28 > 0:07:32or the owner of the two properties that she was living in.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37Further checks showed that a second owner,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41or joint owner of the property, was her husband,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and we were able to confirm that
0:07:43 > 0:07:47by getting a marriage certificate which showed those details.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52So it turns out that Rashpal's landlord is in fact her dad.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56No, hold on, it's her brother. No, it's her husband!
0:07:56 > 0:07:58I've heard of married couples having set-tos,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01but charging your wife rent...
0:08:01 > 0:08:03Well, that's harsh!
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Rashpal's claims that her husband
0:08:06 > 0:08:10was not involved in her life any more now looked ridiculous.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Investigators suspected that she'd given nearly £25,000
0:08:14 > 0:08:18of housing benefit money directly to her family.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23If true, she could potentially be making a fraudulent claim to the council.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26The Fraud Team decided it was time to ask her to come in
0:08:26 > 0:08:28for an interview under caution.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31We sent her out three interview requests
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and she didn't attend any of them.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Once Rashpal didn't attend the interview
0:08:37 > 0:08:42it gave us no option, as far as we were concerned,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46as to find out where that money was going, whether it was properly being used for rent.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51The only way to do that was to check the bank account we were paying the money to,
0:08:51 > 0:08:52to see what was happening to it.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Ian's team used their authorised powers
0:08:56 > 0:09:00to carry out a detailed examination of Rashpal's bank records.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Normally, we'd expect to see the money coming in from the council
0:09:04 > 0:09:06the one day and perhaps a few days later,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10that money, the same amount, going out to the landlord.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12That would be what we would expect to see.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15With Rashpal, we saw the money going into her account
0:09:15 > 0:09:17and then it would sit in the account
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and be used for general day-to-day expenses.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23On the face of the bank statements,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26it appeared that there was no rent being paid.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31No rent at all? So nearly £25,000 of taxpayers' money
0:09:31 > 0:09:34she was getting to keep a roof over her head
0:09:34 > 0:09:36was being spent on everything else but.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38So, where was it going?
0:09:38 > 0:09:41With Rashpal refusing to answer any questions,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45investigators kept digging into her financial affairs
0:09:45 > 0:09:47and made a shocking discovery.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50We were aware of one bank account,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53which is where we paid our rent to Rashpal.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55When we contacted that bank,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58they advised us there was a number of other bank accounts
0:09:58 > 0:09:59which we were unaware of.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03A single mum on benefits with secret bank accounts?
0:10:03 > 0:10:04It looked like investigators
0:10:04 > 0:10:07had unearthed a very sophisticated fraud.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09But what was going on?
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Ian's team started the mammoth task of gathering information
0:10:13 > 0:10:16about where the money in Rashpal's accounts was coming from
0:10:16 > 0:10:19and what else she was doing.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23We found that Rashpal had another eight accounts
0:10:23 > 0:10:25which she hadn't declared to us at all,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and these all had money running through them.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Eight bank accounts? Who has eight bank accounts?
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Rashpal had been given over £25,000 from the council,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38but had any of this money been siphoned off
0:10:38 > 0:10:40into the other accounts?
0:10:40 > 0:10:44It was a confusing picture of deposits and withdrawals.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48We also found that Rashpal's husband's wages
0:10:48 > 0:10:51were being paid directly into one of Rashpal's accounts,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54which obviously is not what you'd expect
0:10:54 > 0:10:56from a supposed ex-husband.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59It certainly wasn't.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03But the money transfers between the couple were almost insignificant
0:11:03 > 0:11:07compared to money circulating in some of Rashpal's other accounts.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10As Ian and his team looked more closely at her banking,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13the sums of money involved were staggering.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16What was she doing with the cash
0:11:16 > 0:11:18and where was the £25,000
0:11:18 > 0:11:22the council had given to her in housing benefit?
0:11:22 > 0:11:25I mean, none of this money was declared.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28She claimed not to have anything.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32As we'll see later, Rashpal was very naughty indeed.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38For now, it's farewell to the fraudsters
0:11:38 > 0:11:40that are trying to rip off our system,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43and hello to those who we call our saints -
0:11:43 > 0:11:45people who do everything to make sure that folk
0:11:45 > 0:11:47who genuinely require help,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50but who are too proud or don't know how to help themselves,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52get what they need.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Do you remember being young? I think I do.
0:11:59 > 0:12:00It's a little while ago now.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05What I remember is that there's a huge pressure to fit in.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Sometimes that pressure can make you do things
0:12:07 > 0:12:11which make you a danger to yourself and to those around you.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15After problems with drink and drugs,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Shane Blankley found himself homeless and with no hope,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21aged just 19.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24I felt that, "I don't know where my next meal's coming from,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27"I don't know where I'm going to sleep that night."
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I felt as if I was going nowhere.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31'Shane came from a broken home
0:12:31 > 0:12:36'and opted to live with his father and brother after his parents had separated.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38'I've come to meet him to find out how someone so young
0:12:38 > 0:12:41'could end up in such a terrifying situation.'
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Roughly, what sort of age would you pinpoint
0:12:44 > 0:12:48where you left the path of acceptable behaviour, if you like?
0:12:48 > 0:12:5113, 14. I got into the wrong crowds.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55It started off as a bit of drinking, I suppose,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and then a little bit of light drugs come along.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01And how were things going at school after that?
0:13:01 > 0:13:03I was turning up hungover
0:13:03 > 0:13:06or I was getting high in the middle of the day,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11so it came to the point where I was being put in isolation at school,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13I was being taken out of the lessons.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16They didn't want me there. I was being too much of a distraction.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Shane started to experiment with harder drugs.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24It wasn't long before his erratic behaviour took its toll on his dad,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27with whom he was living at the time.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29I was bored at home
0:13:29 > 0:13:32and I found my brother's car keys.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Like an idiot, I decided to go out and take his car
0:13:36 > 0:13:38and I went for a spin.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44I'd been drinking. I, er, I took a little bit of drugs.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46It wasn't much for me, you know?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It was what I'd class as an average night.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53I enjoyed myself, I suppose. That was the kind of idea,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57but it soon turned into a disaster when I crashed it.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02When my parents found out that night, my dad just...
0:14:02 > 0:14:04That was it. It was the final straw for him.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06He threw me out there and then.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09Shane's mum took him in,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13but it was a struggle for him to keep off the drugs.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15- So you're with your mum...- Yes.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Is she more tolerant of what you're up to?
0:14:17 > 0:14:19Is she letting you drink and take drugs?
0:14:19 > 0:14:22She pretty much made me go cold turkey.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Er... It came to the point,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28the first couple of weeks, I was locked in. I wasn't allowed out.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33But as time went on, she gave me a little bit more freedom,
0:14:33 > 0:14:34and, in that freedom,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37she didn't realise exactly what I was doing in my spare time.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40I was getting the bus back to see mates
0:14:40 > 0:14:42and I was back to drinking and doing drugs.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46OK, so you may be thinking at this point, "Shane is just trouble."
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Eventually, his mum decided to kick him out.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Like many in his situation, he ended up living in hostels.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Finally, he managed to get a flat of his own from the council
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and was working in a warehouse to try and make ends meet.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05It was really good, my job, but I turned to drink
0:15:05 > 0:15:08because it was something to relax me after a hard day.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13But with me previously having drink problems anyway, you know,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17it soon crept up and started to become a problem.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19I soon found that I needed something to pick me up.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Living by himself clearly wasn't doing this troubled young fellow
0:15:23 > 0:15:25any favours, and, left to his own devices,
0:15:25 > 0:15:28his drug use spiralled out of control.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32It'd come to the point where I had two weeks inside my flat,
0:15:32 > 0:15:33and the first few days
0:15:33 > 0:15:37I phoned up work to tell them I can't make it,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39and then it felt too much to even phone work.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Shane lost his job.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45Without a steady income, his bills started to pile up.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Really down because of everything I'd lost.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53And then I get a letter through from my housing association
0:15:53 > 0:15:57saying they're putting in for an eviction notice.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01That's when things really, really started to drop.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05The housing association wanted Shane out,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08but they also recognised he was a young man that needed help,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12so they arranged for Helen Parkin, a family employment coach,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16to help him get out of the desperate situation he was in.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19He was facing eviction, he had the court order,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21he couldn't face the court case,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24he had no criteria with which to fight the court case,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26and this pile of debts,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28and he really just couldn't see a way out of the situation.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Helen was Shane's only hope.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34He'd been evicted, but she pointed him in the direction of a charity
0:16:34 > 0:16:39that could potentially help with accommodation and work.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41We work with people who are formally homeless
0:16:41 > 0:16:44and we provide them with a community home to live in
0:16:44 > 0:16:46and a social enterprise to work in.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50When people come to us, we will find a skill that they want to work on
0:16:50 > 0:16:53or a job that are particularly interested in.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Christine Dallas is the leader for the community in Leicestershire
0:16:57 > 0:16:59which considered Shane's application.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03What we saw was somebody who wanted to change his life,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05and that is really important to us.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08We can only work with people when they want to succeed.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14We could give him responsibility that would give him something in his life.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16We could give him his pride back.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Shane finally got the call he'd been waiting for.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22I felt as if, all of a sudden, I'd gone from,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25"Oh, no, the world is literally coming to an end for me"
0:17:25 > 0:17:30to being, "Actually, hold on, they're going to give me a job,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32"they're going to put a roof over my head,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35"they're going to provide me with money
0:17:35 > 0:17:37"and they're going to provide me with the support
0:17:37 > 0:17:39"I could really do with."
0:17:39 > 0:17:43The charity provided Shane with living accommodation
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and gave him a job working in one of its emporiums,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50which restores donated furniture and then sells it to the public.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Matthew Taylor's been working with the charity for over a year.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56He was given the responsibility of helping Shane to settle in.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00I was sort of assigned to Shane,
0:18:00 > 0:18:02so I showed him round his new room
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and broke the ice with a joke and we had a laugh together.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08THEY LAUGH
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Matt's helped me quite a lot since I've been here,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13even if it's simple things like waking me up in the morning,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16banging on my door to check that I'm up for work!
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Having heard Shane's story,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22I've come to see for myself just how far he's come.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27- Everything we're looking at is for sale? This is a working shop?- Yes.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It is a different proposition, isn't it, to any other shop?
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Yes. If you don't talk to the customers,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35you're potentially throwing away business.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39One day, Shane was on the shop floor and a customer came into the shop
0:18:39 > 0:18:41and she was very interested in a piano,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44and this beautiful music started coming out of this piano
0:18:44 > 0:18:46and it was Shane playing the piano.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50The customer was that impressed, she bought the piano there and then.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55It's great to see Shane looking genuinely settled.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59It does sound like he has a real knack with the customers, as well.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02When it comes to playing the piano, I could teach him a thing or two.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05THEY PLAY FAST TUNE
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Brilliant. Very nice. I'll take it.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Tell me what happens next for you.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Where do you see yourself going, if you can plan six months, a year?
0:19:13 > 0:19:15How far ahead are you looking?
0:19:15 > 0:19:19I want to go into youth work, all areas, all aspects.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22I'd love to go into a bit of probation,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24I'd like to go into social.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26So, that's work...
0:19:26 > 0:19:27What do you want for you?
0:19:27 > 0:19:31I want to have a stable roof over my head, you know?
0:19:31 > 0:19:34I want something that I can guarantee's going to be there.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37I'd like to see a bit of my family more.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39I'd like to build some bridges.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Friends, as well. Friends, especially.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43I have lost quite a few of them.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49So, yeah, it's not just progression in work or any particular...
0:19:49 > 0:19:51It's just progression in life.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Shane now has big ambitions,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56and it seems like his new family at the charity
0:19:56 > 0:19:59have high hopes for him, as well.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Where would you put Shane right now? What position's he in?
0:20:01 > 0:20:04We've seen a massive difference in Shane.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06As you can see, he interacts brilliantly
0:20:06 > 0:20:08with the other companions.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10They mentor him, they look after him
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and he responds really well to that.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Shane's definitely not at the end of his journey,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18but he is on his way.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22I look back on me, on how I was,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I was that screwed up and messed up at the time that...
0:20:26 > 0:20:29any loss of anything was just...
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It just knocked me down straight away.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35I look at me now and, you know,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37you can knock me down a couple of times
0:20:37 > 0:20:39and I'll keep getting back up.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I've got that support network around me, I've got people there for me.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55Time now to go back to the devious world of money-grabbing scroungers.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The Fraud Team at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
0:20:58 > 0:21:02is investigating the case of single mother Rashpal Kaur,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04who they suspect is cheating the system
0:21:04 > 0:21:09and paying her housing benefit directly to family members.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12In the course of their enquiries,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15officers discovered that despite being a single mum on benefits,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Rashpal had access to huge amounts of cash
0:21:18 > 0:21:21in a number of different bank accounts.
0:21:21 > 0:21:28Where you've got, erm, serious cases of deliberate fraud,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30clearly benefits are not then paid
0:21:30 > 0:21:34when it's been found that they're not entitled to those benefits,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37but the case then has to be put together
0:21:37 > 0:21:40to bring the prosecution.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Steve took the decision to stop Rashpal's benefits,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46but the investigators still had a lot of work to do
0:21:46 > 0:21:48to get to the bottom of what was going on.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52She'd been given nearly £25,000 in housing benefits
0:21:52 > 0:21:55between 2003 and 2007
0:21:55 > 0:22:00and the Fraud Team had to find out where this money had gone.
0:22:00 > 0:22:07The spreadsheet shows that various accounts that Rashpal had were undeclared to the council.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09And, over a six-year period,
0:22:09 > 0:22:14we can show that Rashpal had just over £270,000
0:22:14 > 0:22:17in these bank accounts.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20It seems Rashpal is doing very well for herself.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24Who can blame her? She's clearly a shrewd investor!
0:22:24 > 0:22:27The only slight fly in the ointment is the fact
0:22:27 > 0:22:29that not all of the money is hers.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31In fact, there were so many accounts
0:22:31 > 0:22:35that the investigators had a real job trying to track it down,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38all £270,000 of it.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Investigators had to go through a painstaking process
0:22:42 > 0:22:44of tracking and deciphering
0:22:44 > 0:22:47what was behind Rashpal's various bank transactions,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50but they did begin to notice a pattern.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56The money that was in the accounts was being paid out in quite big sums.
0:22:56 > 0:23:01Some of the sums were traced to property companies
0:23:01 > 0:23:04or solicitors who dealt with property sales,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06both in this country and abroad.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Our investigation showed that there was a lot of, erm,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12links to the Southampton area,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16but also, there was property developers in Dubai
0:23:16 > 0:23:18who she was making payments to.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23Rashpal was potentially using British taxpayers' money
0:23:23 > 0:23:27to buy property by the seaside and in the Middle East.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32After the Fraud Team examined bank records that connected Rashpal with three properties in Southampton,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36they investigated who was living at these addresses
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and uncovered a vital piece of evidence.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42There was an address in Southampton, West End Road,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46where there was a claim made from somebody
0:23:46 > 0:23:50to get help with rent from Southampton Council.
0:23:50 > 0:23:51On that claim,
0:23:51 > 0:23:56they'd noted that the landlord was Rashpal Kaur.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59But that wasn't all.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03The phone number that could be used for contact
0:24:03 > 0:24:06was the phone number that we held for Rashpal Kaur.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16So, in Sandwell, Rashpal was getting benefits for being a single mum.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20In Southampton, she was being paid taxpayers' money as a landlord.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25And if that wasn't bad enough, Ian's team was about to discover
0:24:25 > 0:24:28even more potential abuses of the system.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34She made an application for Carer's Allowance for her mother,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38stating that she was looking after her mum 35 hours a week.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Rashpal stated on the application form that she wasn't working.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47We didn't trust that to be correct, so we did some checking
0:24:47 > 0:24:52and we found out that she was working full time at a local call centre.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54It was a barefaced lie.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56In the course of their investigation,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58the Fraud Team also discovered
0:24:58 > 0:25:02that Rashpal may have fraudulently completed a housing benefit claim
0:25:02 > 0:25:07for a friend and then lied to the authorities about that, as well.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10It looks like she's trying to get round the benefits system
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and use a different benefit
0:25:12 > 0:25:16to get her the payments that she obviously thinks she deserves.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21Ian had more offences to add to the list of allegations against Rashpal,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23but what he had to prove
0:25:23 > 0:25:26was how she'd spent the £25,000 of housing money
0:25:26 > 0:25:31the council had given to her between 2003 and 2007.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33One of things that we noticed with Rashpal was,
0:25:33 > 0:25:38in 2006 she'd taken out some insurance policies
0:25:38 > 0:25:40for her and her husband
0:25:40 > 0:25:46in which they were both the recipient of the money, should the other die.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49Effectively, Rashpal was laundering this money,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52taking the money that she'd received criminally
0:25:52 > 0:25:55and turning it into cleaner money.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58It was the last piece of the jigsaw.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Investigators also found evidence that Rashpal used taxpayers' money
0:26:02 > 0:26:05for private school fees, private number plates
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and various expenses around the home.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13Rashpal was charged with 22 counts, variously benefit fraud,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15perverting the course of justice,
0:26:15 > 0:26:20another benefit fraud case that had been brought, and money laundering.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24She was charged with perverting the course of justice
0:26:24 > 0:26:28because investigators believed she'd made a witness retract their statement
0:26:28 > 0:26:33which incriminated Rashpal in a fraudulent claim involving her friend.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36After investing thousands of man hours into the case,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Ian's team finally put Rashpal in front of a judge and jury
0:26:40 > 0:26:43on the 5th of October 2012.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47No-one else in her family was charged with any offences.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Rashpal appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court
0:26:50 > 0:26:53and pleaded not guilty to all the offences and charges
0:26:53 > 0:26:55that had been put to her.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58This meant that we had to have a trial.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01That trial lasted 12 days,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05which is as long as a trial for benefit fraud has ever taken, in my knowledge.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Rashpal may've put up a long fight,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11but the jury simply didn't believe her
0:27:11 > 0:27:14and found her guilty of all charges.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16At the end of the trial,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19the judge said it was the most comprehensive benefit fraud
0:27:19 > 0:27:26that he'd seen and she was sentenced to 32 months in prison.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31Rashpal Kaur is clearly a calculating criminal.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33She had a significant amount of money,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37far more money than the vast majority of the residents of Sandwell
0:27:37 > 0:27:40could ever hope to have.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45She used those benefits to supplement that money,
0:27:45 > 0:27:50to invest in property to make more money.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Her motives were pure greed.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57It was a great result for the Sandwell Fraud Team,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and taxpayers, who'll be getting their money back
0:28:00 > 0:28:04and any money Rashpal made as a result of her fraudulent acts.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10So cash-rich Mrs Kaur finally got what was coming to her,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13a very lengthy sentence.
0:28:13 > 0:28:14She was held to account
0:28:14 > 0:28:18for a very complex and dodgy set of accounts.