THE Oxford Mail has obtained a list of the benefits cheats who have conned thousands of pounds from the city’s taxpayers in recent months.
In the whole of Oxfordshire, fraudulent housing and council-tax claims totalling £1.64m were uncovered in the 2009/10 financial year.
During that period, 63 offenders were prosecuted in the courts by the county’s five district councils. A further 50 were fined and 182 were formally cautioned.
In 2009/10 Oxford City Council uncovered benefit frauds totalling £758,781, although not all crimes are detected.
In South Oxfordshire that figure was £182,455; in Cherwell it was £206,388; in Vale of White Horse it was £205,100, and in West Oxfordshire it was £289,506.
These figures do not include false claims for national benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The following people have been prosecuted by Oxford City Council between April 2009-August 2010:
Zaheeda Parveen (AKA Zaheeda Begum), Cricket Road, East Oxford
Rudo Mudiwa, Pickett Avenue, Wood Farm
Emilia Monteiro, Ladenham Road, Blackbird Leys
Paulin Noubissi, Alice Smith Square, Littlemore
Vikki Clark, Thistledown Close, Greater Leys
Lola Harizaj, Windrush Tower, Blackbird Leys
Caroline Woolcock, Faulkner Street, St Ebbe’s
Antony Pellett, Steyning Avenue, Peacehaven, Sussex
Roger Smith, Nelson Street, Jericho
Phillip Michael Royle, Merstow Green, Evesham, Worcestershire
Vandna Gill, Druce Way, Blackbird Leys
Stephen Bourton, Plover Drive, Blackbird Leys
Elona Gjeta, Normandy Crescent, Cowley
Jason Galvin, Phipps Road, Cowley Rosemary Jones, Swift Close, Blackbird Leys
Vicky Smith, Owens Way, Cowley
Maria Debanks, Ashurst Way, Rose Hill
Roy Clarke, Cranley Road, Headington
Stuart Oatridge, Iffley Road, East Oxford
Wendy Howard, Southfield Park, East Oxford
Hussain Ali, Ashurst Way, Rose Hill
Simon Froude, Awgar Stone Road, Headington
Regina Hutchinson, Abingdon Road, Oxford
Helen Russell, Kingfisher Green, Greater Leys
Steffanie Iris Anderson, Furlong Close, Blackbird Leys
John Francis Murphy, Southmoor Road, Jericho.
In April, mother of seven Zaheeda Parveen was jailed for six months for falsely claiming more than than £75,000 in benefits, including £39,000 from the city council.
The 41-year-old asylum seeker admitted 10 counts of fraud.
In February, Rudo Mudiwa, 39, and her partner Patrick Chitembwe, 41, were given suspended prison sentences for failing to tell the city council they had got Jobs at the Warneford Hospital.
Between 2004 and 2008 they fraudulently claimed £29,688.40, mainly in housing benefit.
They admitted 12 charges and Judge Tom Corrie gave each of them a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered them to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
On Monday, 47-year-old Regina Hutchinson was given a suspended jail term for cheating the system out of £60,365 in benefits, including about £34,000 from the city council. She admitted six charges spanning a 10-year period and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, given a six-month supervision order and told to repay the money at £450 a month.
Carol Quainton, the city council’s investigations manager, said: “At least 95 per cent of those who are in need of welfare benefits are honest. It is the minority who abuse the system.”
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To report false claims, call 01865 252222, email benefitfraudline@ oxford.gov.uk or use a benefit fraud ‘report it’ form at oxford.gov.uk
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