Named and shamed: 10 of Britain's biggest benefits cheats who tried to con the taxpayer out of £3.7million

Ten of Britain’s biggest benefits fraudsters have tried to con the taxpayer out of almost £3.7million.
A rogue’s gallery of criminals punished by the courts in the last year reveal the scams used by a hardcore minority to claim handouts to which they are not entitled.
They have been sentenced a total of 30 years in jail after using fake identities, secret bank accounts and fictitious illnesses to claim benefits.

Barry Brooks, who insisted on being known as 'Sir Barry' and claimed he could barely walk, falsely claimed £1.8million after setting up a sham business pretending he was helping disabled people get work

Ministers vowed to use new technology and surveillance powers to ‘make it even tougher for these criminals’.
The line-up includes a man who pretended to be in a wheelchair who claimed £1.8million in support for disabled employees at a company which did not exist, a horse breeder who claimed to be living alone who had an affluent lifestyle with her partner and pedigree dogs and a Liverpool football steward filmed hanging off a tree who claimed he could not work.
In many cases cash, property and valuables have been seized to recoup some of the money claimed fraudulently.
Welfare reform minister Lord Freud said: ‘Our fraud teams have the powers and technology to catch fraudsters, but we are determined to make it even tougher for these criminals.
‘With Universal Credit, benefit fraud will be harder to commit in the first place and easier to detect, and we are calling on the public to help with the crackdown.
‘We all know that it is a minority of people who try to commit fraud, but these criminals need to know, with the hardworking British taxpayer on our side, we are on their tracks.’

Fanta Sesay (left) was jailed for 28 months for a £400,000 fraud using fake IDs to work in an East London hospital while claiming benefits. Edward Cavanagh (centre) claimed he could barely leave the house and received £98,779 in disability benefits before a tip-off to a fraud hotline led to him being filmed walking his dogs. Over six years Paul Vickers (right) claimed £66,800.42 because he could not walk more than 3 metres without stopping, but was working in property maintenance and selling cars 

The cases were brought to justice after anonymous tip-offs, councils working with the Department for Work and Pensions and new technology to track and trace the fraudsters.
In one of the largest frauds Barry Brooks, who insisted on being known as ‘Sir Barry’, was sentenced in August last year to 8 years in jail after pretending he needed a wheelchair to con his way to a millionaire lifestyle.

He set up a sham business pretending he was helping disabled people get work.  He had owned 5 properties which have all been repossessed, sold and the equity paid into a restrained account.
Michael Dunne, 58, from Kirkby, was jailed for 40 weeks in February after falsely claiming £74,000 in benefits.
He claimed he was virtually unable to walk and required care during the day, but was found to be working as a steward for Liverpool and Everton and was filmed walking uphill to Anfield Football ground and hanging off a tree by his arms.
DWP fraud investigator James Blake said: ‘These cases really show the methods that benefit fraudsters try to use to play the system. 
‘With many tools at our disposal, including covert surveillance equipment, we can gain evidence against them without them being aware at all.
‘Our teams are also able to pinpoint suspects and suspicious activity following evidence and conflicting paperwork with greater accuracy than ever before.
‘These criminals need to be aware that we will be investigating them.’

Gladys Popoola (left) was jailed for two years after claiming benefits while receiving rental income from three rental properties and hiding secret bank accounts in the UK and Kenya; Andrew Pishides (centre), who is partially blind, claimed £175,926 including for support with taxi journeys to work, but he did not leave his home and faked receipts to make the claims. Helen Gough (right) was jailed for two years for claiming £104,175.18 in benefits as a single person with caring duties while actually living with her partner and pedigree dog and working as a horse breeder 

In some cases the frauds went on for years, with people receiving benefits under false identities or working while claiming to be too ill to leave their homes.
Hubert Small, 56, from London was sentenced to five years in prison for 24 offences worth £500,000 after claiming benefit in three different councils for three identities, including the identity of his dead brother.
Expert hand writing analysis revealed he was helped to make some claims by Elaine Wright, 55, who was jailed for 18 months and Una-Lee Riley-Dixon, 47, who was sentenced to two and a half years behind bars.
Helen Gough, 47, from Coton-In-The-Clay, Ashbourne, Derbyshire was jailed for two years after claiming £104,175.18  in benefits as a single person with caring duties. She was found to be living with a partner and living an affluent lifestyle as a breeder of Arabian horses and pedigree dog.
Paul Vickers, 46, from Frodsham in Cheshire was jailed in June 2013 for 16 months after claiming £66,800.42 over six years from 2006. He claimed he was unable to walk more than 3 metres without stopping but was using the money to fund his work as a motor trader and also worked in property maintenance.

Hubert Small was jailed for five years in March after claiming benefits totalling over £500,000 under three false identities, including that of his dead brother, and was helped by Elaine Wright who posed as a landlady in a fictitious tenancy. She was jailed for 18 months in connection with five offences worth £57,000

David Millward, 54, of Brewood in South Staffordshire was sentenced to 18 months in prison in February this year after claiming £100,224 in disability benefits but was filmed working actively on his farm, herding cattle and climbing fences.
Andrew Pishides, 37, from London who is partially blind, claimed £175,926 including for support with taxi journeys to work, but he did not leave his home and faked receipts to make the claims.
The escort agency boss was found to have been running three businesses.
In April he was given an 8-month prison sentence, suspended for 2 years. He was also given a 12 month supervision requirement, an electronically monitored curfew from 9pm to 6am for 3 months, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge.
Gladys Popoola, 48, of St Johns Wood in London was sentenced in March for two years in prison for claiming benefits worth £202,386 while hiding income from three rented properties, secret bank accounts, a property in and bank accounts in Kenya.
Fanta Sesay, 42, from London, was sentenced to 28 months in jail in September 2013 after a £400,000 fraud. Not legally entitled to work, the Sierra Leone national gave a false name, National Insurance number and date of birth in order to work as a nursing assistant at Homerton Hospital and at St Thomas’ Hospital in South London.
Edward Cavanagh, 59, of Liverpool, pleaded guilty in April to stealing £98,779 of disability benefits after being found to be working as a debt collector. He received an eight-month suspended sentence and a three month tagging order.

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