Published Date:
03 February 2010
A MAN and his partner who bought a plush caravan, a 52-inch plasma
television, a sports car and foreign holidays while fraudulently claiming benefits have been jailed.
William Stone and Dianne Ward claimed more than £70,000 in benefits but failed to tell authorities that he was working and she had savings.
Judge Wright at Lancaster Crown Court said the pair were: "Both part of a long-term systematic assault on the benefits system."
The court heard that William Henry Stone, 61, formerly of Regent Leisure Park, More-cambe, was overpaid £37,349.37 in Incapacity Benefit over a 10-year period and Dianne Jennifer Ward was overpaid £34,830 in various benefits. From December 1996, Stone worked for a succession of companies, as either a building labourer or a cleaner. Since 2006, he had been running his own cleaning business called BJ Cleaning Services, even securing a contract to clean caravans at the site where he and Ward were living.
During this period, Depart-ment of Work and Pensions (DWP) investigators secretly filmed the couple working at the holiday centre.
In 2007, Ward made a bogus claim for housing benefit and council tax benefit which she submitted to Lancaster City Council.
She claimed she was renting a caravan for £500 from BJ Cleaning Services but in fact she jointly purchased the caravan along with Stone for £46,000.
For full story, see this week's Visitor.
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Last Updated:
03 February 2010 9:17 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Morecambe
