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Benefit cheat claimed £16,000

5:08pm Wednesday 25th August 2010 in News

A 52-year-old man admitted claiming more than £16,000 in benefits while working for an air conditioning company.

Peter Wynne, of Hearthway, Banbury, was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, and a 12-week curfew, between 8pm and 8am, when he appeared for sentencing at Banbury Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

He had been overpaid housing benefit of £6,454, council tax benefit of £1,462 and Department of Work and Pensions benefits of £9,059, which he will have to repay in full.

Wynne admitted failing to disclose that he was employed as a general assistant on a casual basis at the air conditioning company since 2003.

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Comments(5)

Berty says...
6:04pm Wed 25 Aug 10

No surprise that he gets off with a slap on the wrist.

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Victor Meldrew2 says...
9:34pm Wed 25 Aug 10

'Have to repay in full' - severe penalty that then
Crime does pay then - or interest free loans anyway.
People have had more severe financial penalties for staying in parking spot too long.

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Gunslinger says...
10:44pm Wed 25 Aug 10

Berty wrote:
No surprise that he gets off with a slap on the wrist.
And what do you propose then?
Send him to jail and then he will pay back nothing?
The solution is surely to make it far more difficult for people to cheat in the first place, and to catch them more quickly when they do. This has been going on since 2003!

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LadyPenelope says...
8:10am Thu 26 Aug 10

Gunslinger wrote:
Berty wrote: No surprise that he gets off with a slap on the wrist.
And what do you propose then? Send him to jail and then he will pay back nothing? The solution is surely to make it far more difficult for people to cheat in the first place, and to catch them more quickly when they do. This has been going on since 2003!
Either make it more difficult for people to cheat, take it seriously when people report benefit cheats (as they generally don't!), and charge an interest rate on the money they've stolen, which they also have to pay back. On top of that, if they have any goods of value in their home (TVs, mp3 players, gym equipment, jewellery etc...) then this should be sold to pay off the debt.

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Berty says...
10:43am Thu 26 Aug 10

"And what do you porpose then?" Whoa. What did I do to annoy you Gunslinger?I was just commenting on the non-punishment; you want suggestions for other measures then YOU come up with them.

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