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.”
No comments:
Write comments