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Benefit cheat mother jailed
A SINGLE mother-of-four has been jailed for eight months after illegally claiming nearly £20,000 in benefits.
Investigators found Penny Earl, 45, of Highfield Crescent, Kettering, was claiming income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit while working at Burger King.
The Evening Telegraph can today reveal that Earl is just one of hundreds of people caught cheating the system every year.
Benefit cheats are claiming nearly 500,000 a year in north Northamptonshire.
At least 300 people in Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire were investigated for benefit fraud last year.
Since April Kettering Council has been involved in 132 fraud cases which resulted in people falsely claiming more than 140,000 housing benefit and 42,000 in council tax relief.
The council prosecuted five people and handed out 20 cautions.
Kettering Council's benefit fraud spokesman Cllr Ursula Jones said: "Benefit fraud costs the country billions of pounds every year.
"Cases such as Penny Earl's underline our commitment to applying sanctions against those individuals who commit benefit fraud and ensuring that public funds are administered to the right people at the right time.
"Kettering Council does offer assistance to people who experience financial difficulties or hardship. Our staff are able to assist people who encounter difficulties and we would encourage them to contact us as soon as they realise they have a problem."
In the 2004/05 tax year Corby Council received almost 500 calls from the public about suspected benefit fraudsters.
The calls generated 188 investigations and identified more than 202,000 in illegally claimed housing and council tax benefits.
The money is now being collected by the council's debt recovery team, which has either fined the criminals or docked their existing benefits.
In the same period, Corby Council also warned eight people it caught trying to cheat the system, handed out seven fines and prosecuted 16 people through the courts.
East Northamptonshire Council prosecuted six people for benefit fraud in the 2004/05 tax year – as a result overpaying nearly 40,000 in council tax and housing benefits.
No one from Wellingborough Council was available for comment.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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