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Walsall shop owner jailed for £40,000 benefits fraud

A shop owner has been jailed after he and his partner swindled more than £40,000 in benefits.

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Jiwan Singh, who owns a shop on Bloxwich Road in Walsall, was inprisoned for 42 weeks for his part in the con which saw his partner claim she was a single parent.

The 47-year-old had a total of £44,224.59 paid into his bank account while his partner, Sandeep Kaur, was falsely claiming the funds through income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Kaur, from Dora Road in West Bromwich, was handed the same 42-week sentence but avoided jail when the judge suspended her term for two years.

But the two will not be required to pay anything back to the state, as they have no 'discernible assets'.

During a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, prosecuting barrister Miss Cathlyn Orchard said 35-year-old Kaur had been properly claiming income support from May 2005, as she was a lone parent with two children.

But the fraud started in 2007 when she started a relationship with Singh, who lives at the same address as his shop.

Miss Orchard said: "In March of that year he was making a mortgage application for a property in Freda Road, West Bromwich in which he describes her as his wife.

"In September 2007 she submitted a claim for housing and council tax benefit, again describing herself a a lone parent with two dependent children.

"She gives her address as Dora Road in West Bromwich and identifies Jiwan Singh as the owner of that address and her landlord."

Benefits officers then asked for more details about her tenancy, and she gave them a false agreement document signed by herself and Singh, posing as her landlord.

He had in fact purchased the property on September 14, and the intention was that they would live there as husband and wife.

Then, on March 11 2009, the pair had a child together. That was not declared, as it would have affected her housing and council tax benefit.

Mr Christopher Rodwell, representing Singh, did not accept that he had a leading role in the fraud as no-one knows who was more culpable.

He added: "He did the right thing and pleaded guilty eventually. He's 47 and has never been in trouble for anything to date."

Mr Jasvir Mann, representing Kaur, had been legitimately claiming income support until she started a relationship with Singh.

He said: "As far as the housing and council tax benefit, that was not a lawful claim from the outset. Her only explanation is she accepts, while she was in a relationship, he was already in another relationship and she was never sure how stable her relationship with him was."

The two had both previously pleaded guilty to their charges, Singh to one count of furnishing false information, and Kaur to one charge of failing to notify a change in circumstances, and two of fraud.

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