A Huntingdon woman, Joanne Tack of 15 St Barnabas Court, Huntingdon has been found guilty of benefit fraud and on Wednesday 4 January 2006 was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment.
Tack pleaded guilty at Peterborough Crown Court to 5 charges of benefit fraud between December 2001 and July 2004. The case, heard in November 2005, had been referred to the crown court by Huntingdon Magistrates due to the serious nature of the offences and the amount of benefit that Tack had fraudulently claimed.
In November the court was told that Tack claimed benefit between 1999 and 2004 by declaring that she was an unemployed lone parent but during the same period she lived with a partner who was employed throughout the time of Tack’s claims. During that time she fraudulently claimed more than £36,000 income support, £17,000 housing benefit and £2,000 council tax benefit.
In passing sentence, the judge said, “We take these cases very seriously, which I believe is evident in the sentence given in this instance. Ms Tack will serve at least half of the sentence before she becomes due for parole.”
Terry Rogers, executive councillor for finance said, “This sentence demonstrates that the courts view cases like this as seriously as we do. We are determined to ensure that people fraudulently claiming benefits are brought before the courts, if necessary.
“This money is public money and we have a responsibility to ensure that only those who are genuinely entitled to benefits receive them.”
Tack is one of the cases to be brought to court by a specialist team of investigators drawn from both the district council and the Department for Work and Pensions fraud offices based in Huntingdon. Both will seek to recover all the overpayments made.
If you know someone who is claiming benefit when they are not entitled to it you can contact the Fraud Investigation Team on 01480 388480 or call the 24 hour confidential Fraud Hot Line on 01480 388188. When calling either number please leave as much information as possible to ensure that the council is aware of the full facts before an investigation commences. All calls received will be dealt with.