A COUPLE who Oxford City Council said wrongly claimed £200,000 in benefits are due to be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday.

Kevan Barrett, 44, also known as Kevan Kinch, and his partner Kerri Kinsey, 41, both of Stubbs Avenue, Headington, pleaded guilty to wrongly claiming Income Support, Council Tax Benefit, Housing Benefit and Single Person Discount, according to the council.

The authority said the case is one of the biggest and longest its officers have dealt with and was only uncovered following a National Fraud Initiative referral. 

In this case, the NFI matched data from payroll records and benefit applications and discovered that Barrett and Kinsey were linked to the same address.

Once the referral was received, the investigation team, working with the Department for Work and Pensions and Thames Valley Police, began collecting evidence on their joint life together from a variety of sources and they were arrested in August 2014. 

Further investigations then followed and more evidence was collected, with both defendants ultimately pleading guilty.

City council leader Bob Price said: "I am delighted that we have secured these convictions. Our team takes benefit fraud extremely seriously and will do all we can to ensure that no one evades the system.

"The joint working by the various organisations involved means that information is better shared and acted upon.

"I hope theses convictions act as a warning to others that their actions carry consequences."