Council officers jailed for £1m housing benefit scam

The other six defendants were given prison sentences of between 18 months and three and a half years.

They are Hugh Small, 40, Rahel Asfaha, 36, Alex Williams, 39, Cassandra Johnson, 38, Jessica Bartley, 35, and Natasha Francis, 38.

Donna Francis, 58, and Derrick Williams, 59, were convicted of entering into a money laundering arrangement and received respective sentences of a 12-month community order and 15 months in prison.

Ben Reid, a specialist prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) specialist fraud division, said: “These council-employed assessors were trusted to look after badly needed public money meant to help people find somewhere to live.

“Instead they corrupted the systems and sent over £1m to money launderers in the criminal underground.”

During their trial, the gang said that they did not know the claims were false and were processing papers handed to them by managers.

But the jury was shown messages exchanged between those involved planning the scam.

They would identify properties to pay out housing benefit, collect details for false claims and arrange fake appointments through their jobs at the councils. They would later approve the claims and prevent letters from being sent out to the homes in question.

The stolen money was sent to accounts controlled by money launderers, who left the UK before they could be charged.

The CPS said it worked with investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and organised investigation team to bring forward the prosecution.

It will now set a timetable on how it will try to recover any outstanding assets from the gang.

A spokesperson for Lambeth Council said: “We welcome the convictions and custodial sentences for these individuals.

“The council’s counter fraud team played a major part in the investigation, alongside other agencies, to ensure that these individuals were uncovered and brought to justice.

“Lambeth will continue to work with investigators and the courts to seek recovery of every penny stolen from the public purse, using the proceeds of crime act.

“We hope that this result will show that we take instances of fraud extremely seriously and will work tirelessly to protect public money.”

A Barking and Dagenham spokesperson said: “This was a complicated case, with those convicted working across a number of different councils.

“The council works hard to detect and eradicate fraud and we are pleased that the courts have taken a hard line exemplified with the sentences just announced.”

Dave Ryder-Mills, portfolio holder for revenue and benefits at Kingston Council, said: “The people sentenced to imprisonment clearly knew the system and exactly what they were doing.

“Benefits are there for people who really need it and we won’t hesitate to take action against anyone who steals money from the public.”

A spokesperson for the DWP said: “Benefit fraud takes money away from those who really need it and we will catch the small minority who cheat the system.

“Our investigators worked closely with the Metropolitan Police, Crown Prosecution Service and Lambeth, Barking & Dagenham and Kingston Councils to bring these fraudsters to justice.”

Update: at 11.14am, 19/03/19 a statement from Lambeth Council was added to the story.

Update: at 11.35am, 19/03/19 a statement from Barking and Dagenham Council was added to the story.

Update: at 16.48am, 19/03/19 statements from Kingston Council and the DWP were added to the story.