Tipton couple in £21,000 benefit fraud are jailed
A husband and wife have been jailed for claiming more than £20,000 in housing and council tax benefits they were not entitled to.
Muneez Begum repeatedly lied to Sandwell Council about her family situation, the court heard.
The 55 year old and husband Mohammed Taj, aged 59, were jailed for a total of 19 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court after justice finally caught up with them.
Mrs Sally Cairns, prosecuting barrister, said Begum made 16 claims from 2004 to 2010.
"During the period Begum claimed that she was separated from Taj and he was not living there when in fact he was," Mrs Cairns told the court.
Mrs Cairns said the couple, of Gilbert Street, Tipton, were also previously convicted in 2010 of offences relating to false declarations that they were not related to their landlord Zahid Khan, and about their relationship with others in the same household.
Investigations by Sandwell Council uncovered that Mr Khan was in fact Begum's brother.
"In 2004 the council stopped her benefits over concerns that the property had commercial tenants. She appealed over the decision and gave evidence of oath saying that landlord was her son's friend. As a result of the tribunal the benefit was reinstated," Mrs Cairns said.
The full scale of the couple's deception finally came to light in July last year when Taj lost his job and he put on the claim form that they were now back together.
She said they been overpaid by a total of £21,346 and had refunded £427 of it from their legitimate benefit allowances before those repayments stopped.
Begum was convicted after a trial of 20 offences of making false representation, while Taj was convicted of 19 offences for allowing documents to be produced for council tax and housing benefit last month. They had denied the charges.
Mr Jas Mann, defending barrister, said Begum was ashamed and remorseful. He asked Judge Nicholas Webb suspend the jail sentences.
But Judge Webb said: "The general public is understandably concerned about false claims by persons who cheat the system and put a burden on others. This was not a case where there was a genuine claim to begin with and your circumstances changed. This is a case of multiple claims over a long period which were dishonest from the start."
He sentenced Begum to 10 months in prison and Taj nine months. He told the couple they must serve half of the jail terms before they can be released.
