Claim of £30,000 to
help fund Tropical Island Paradise!
|
|
Gets away (to Sri Lanka) with a £30,000 state
handout! - 10th November 2008 Bradford
man claimed nearly £30,000 in benefits and used it to finance his
life on a tropical island. He bought a holiday home and a plot of
land in Sri Lanka. He has now been jailed for 8 months.
Bradford Crown Court heard that he failed to tell
the authorities he was no longer a permanent resident of the UK, and
still claimed receive income support, council tax benefit and
disability living allowance.
|
For several years he tricked the local
council and the Department for Work and Pensions out of £28,293.51,
after failing to tell them that he had moved to Sri Lanka.
He told the court that he was doing charity work
on the Island - helping with relief work for the tsunami in 2004
As with many benefits frauds, the claims started legally, but then
developed into a free hand-out after circumstances changed.
There will now be a further hearing, when the
authorities will try to get their money back!
