Benefit fraud again

The tale of a Gateshead man jailed for 15 months is so bizarre that it repays reading in full. He claimed job seekers allowance in the name of his jailed brother - which apparently prisoners can do legally. And he made two bogus applications for Emergency Community Care Grants. On one he claimed he needed to flee as his abusive father was about to return from Pakistan. And he "submitted ... a claim for a grant to cover removal costs for his sister in Leeds, falsely stating she had lost her husband and son in the London bombings." This hard work made Mr Ramzan £2,387. He admitted 15 charges of making false statements to get benefit - successfully - even though he already had what the paper calls "already has a string of convictions for dishonesty, including deceptions and perverting justice".

Malcolm Smith from Grimsby has been jailed for 14 months "after fiddling more than £45,600 in benefits by pretending he was severely disabled and could walk only short distances".

He claimed he had suffered a stroke, had arthritis in his hands, knees, feet and arms, suffered from high blood pressure, had an ulcer, bronchitis and could walk only eight metres without discomfort.

Father-of-eight Smith also claimed he needed help from his partner to get in and out of bed, a court heard.

But he was helping his son sell mobile phones on the market and said that, if his benefit was stopped, he would take up burglary as a career. Not much of a threat from a disabled man, especially as he already had substantial amounts of cash hidden away.

A grandmother from Gwent has been jailed for four months for defrauding Torfaen Council out of council tax relief and housing benefit of £23,126 over a period of at least 12 years, claiming her partner wasn't living with her. They had a joint bank account.

In Southall a former councillor has admitted cheating the council of more than £45,000 in benefits over seven years. Joginder Saroe was caught using the exclusive David Lloyd gym and driving an expensive Mercedes with a personalised number plate, while claiming disability benefit in 2005. Suspended sentence, amazingly.

North Tyneside Council is reporting it detected more than £250,000 of overpayments in the past year. On Teesside

Investigators are working with banks and utility companies to access information about suspects' finances, tools which have resulted in more than 79 Teessiders being taken to court so far this year for fraud believed to total more than £800,000.

Last year 144 people were prosecuted for benefit fraud having stolen more than £500,000 between them.

Between April 2006 and March last year, the DWP tracked down 424 offenders in Lothian and Borders. They had to repay the illegally-claimed cash while many had to pay a penalty set at around 30% of what they stole. At present the DWP is investigating a one-legged man caught working as a roofer in North Berwick, East Lothian. Council officials believe up to 38,000 Edinburgh households could be fraudulently claiming the single-person household discount of 25%.

East Dunbartonshire Council report that more than £450,000 in fraudulent claims were tracked down last year. The figure was recovered from 61 individuals, with the biggest single case involving a woman from Kirkintilloch who cheated the system out of nearly £85,000.

Voice Risk Analysis software (VRA) successfully trialled at Harrow and elsewhere is now at last to be extended, but only to a pilot by a further 15 councils. Funding for this pilot is £1.5m, while Harrow alone reports saving over £360,000. Blackpool - which identified more than £1.3m in overpaid benefits and prosecuted 70 people last year - wants to be one of them.