Maribel Milligan sentenced to a 3-year jail term for falsely claiming benefits of over £500,000

Every day thief, one day for the owner. A woman named Maribel Milligan has been found guilty and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for defrauding the British government of over £539,000. For about 11 years Milligan scammed the benefit system by falsely claiming to be disabled, as she claimed that she could only make use of one of her arm, while the other half of her entire body was totally paralysed, but was caught dancing to Michael Jackson’s popular song ‘bad’. During the dance session, the lady was caught raising up her arms and clapping in the air.

A court heard she had turned the top floor of her home into a massage parlour, which was only accessible via a steep flight of stairs.

Also despite claiming suffering, she also had homes scattered around the country - including pads in her native Venezuela.

According to Teesside Crown Court it was said during her trial that her “laughable” excuses for the deception were so unbelievable they sparked laughing from jurors during her week-long December trial.

Teesside Crown Court was told how the 53-year-old lived a “lavish” lifestyle, with trial pictures showing her outside the Eiffel Tower and dancing at a dazzling marriage ceremony.

The lady was found to be unlawfully making claims to 7 different benefits, and was caught wallowing in the sea and riding bike.

Though during the trial, she was seen sitting in a wheelchair for sentencing after a GP wrote a letter claiming she did have some health problems.

Via video link, Judge Howard Crowson said: “It was quite incredible to see you stepping swiftly from a chair and dancing with your husband.

“You portrayed yourself at the trial as the victim - a person wronged.”

Nevertheless he condemned her for the “sophisticated” fraud, in which she even blamed her carer at one stage for the con.

Judge Crowson stated that “It was simply to protect your false reporting.”

Milligan’s fraudulent lifestyle was uncovered by a whistle blower who contacted the benefit fraud hotline. Which was later followed up with a prolonged investigations that took over three years.

 “Clearly this lady had perpetuated this fraud for some time but clearly the jury saw differently,” said Lynda Bryce from the Department of Work and Pensions.

In total, Milligan creamed off £539,907.43 from 2002 by claiming hardship and severe disability.

Though, the lady has some kind of difficulties, the degree of evidence gathered indicates that her situation was not as bad as she claimed.

Notwithstanding the fact that she claimed she could only walk 20 metres before experiencing excruciating pain, she was snapped engaging a collection of physical activities.

And Judge Crowson questioned why someone with such difficulty moving around would build a massage parlour on the third floor of her home at the top of “steep” stairs.

And despite her denial, the Judge added: “She was clearly running a business.

“She was deceiving everyone.”

Meanwhile, Milligan was amassing a substantial property portfolio consisting of cheap houses, which included homes in South American, Durham and Luton.

She had one Venezuelan home from the outset of her claims in 1994, the court heard, while she got others from her ex-husband.

Among her biggest deceptions was from Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which she took around £170,000 from despite not permanently residing there.

But the court claims the authorities knew of her dishonesty - with that council even sending her to Scotland for respite care.

“Technically she was not living constantly in Hammersmith and Fulham, but social services knew that,” claimed the defence.

“There’s no evidence of vehicles or holidays.”

But despite defence suggestions of suspending Milligan’s jail sentence, Judge Crowson said her health wasn’t bad enough to avoid custody.

Ben Reid, from the CPS’ specialist fraud division, said: “While Maribel Milligan had a genuine disability and was entitled to some support, she deliberately went about claiming more than £500,000 of taxpayer’s money.

“Through careful analysis of the evidence, the prosecution was able to demonstrate how these fraudulent benefit claims continued over a significant period of time.”