£65,000 Bushey benefit fraudster sentenced to eight months in prison

£65,000 Bushey benefit fraudster sentenced to eight months in prison
11:45am Thursday 17th June 2010
By Chris Hewett »
A Bushey benefit fraudster was sent to prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to fraudulently claiming nearly £65,000.
Ola Fagbenle, of Melbourne Avenue, falsely claimed the money after failing to inform the authorities his wife was in full time employment since 2000.
He obtained £13,253 in housing benefit and £3,651 in council tax benefit from Hertsmere Borough Council and the rest from Brent Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
An investigation began in 2008, two years after Fagbenle's first claim, when the Hertsmere Borough Council received information from the DWP.
At the hearing at St Albans Crown Court, the 36-year-old was sentenced to eight months imprisonment by Judge Clifford Smith.
This was made up of three months for false income support claims to the DWP, and five months for false claims relating to housing benefit made to the London Borough of Brent and Hertsmere Borough Council.
Councillor John Graham, finance portfolio holder at Hertsmere Borough Council, said: "We take fraud very seriously. People should be warned that we will not tolerate fraudulent benefit claims and will use our powers wherever possible to catch people who try to milk the system.”