BENEFIT FRAUDSTER DAD CAUGHT OUT BY 7-YEAR-OLD SON'S BLOG

[Daanyeer]

I'm sailing the Caribbean with my benefit cheat dad: Fraudster caught out by seven-year-old son's blog about 10-month jaunt

By Daily Mail Reporter
8th February 2011



A father of three who cruised the Caribbean while cheating the taxpayer out of nearly £30,000 in benefits has been jailed after his seven-year-old son revealed the ten-month jaunt aboard a yacht in an online blog.
Simon Daymond-Harris's son wrote how the benefit cheat, 37, and his family were sailing to St Lucia aboard a family yacht.
He said the family had set sail on the yacht 'Sakida', owned by his father's parents, and did not plan to return for almost a year.

When officials investigated further they found the fraudster, who illegally pocketed a total of £28,778.45, had changed his bank statements to give the impression that cash withdrawals made in St Lucia had actually been made at a the Trago Mills retail outlet in Devon.

'I know this is very serious and I am very sorry. I can assure you I will not appear in court again. I cannot say why I did it, I just don't know.'

Housing benefit paid into his bank account by his mother covered the cash withdrawals in the Caribbean.
Daymond-Harris was today jailed for 12 weeks at Plymouth Magistrates' Court.

He had claimed £560-a-month in housing benefit from August 2006 due to his 'low income' as a barman on £90-a-week, telling authorities he worked 16 hours-a-week and because of his modest wage could not support his wife and three children.
The fraudster claimed he was paying £925-a-month in rent at a four-bedroom waterside apartment in Millbay Marina Village, Plymouth, for four years.

But the flat was actually owned by his parents and he lived there rent-free, meaning he illegally pocketed £28,778.45 between 2006 and last year.
His son wrote online that the family was leaving the UK aboard the Sakida in November 2006 - just three months after the first claim - and that they did not plan to return until October 2007.
He went with his wife and their three children, though all but the eldest son returned in May 2007.
The blog, which has since been removed, led to further investigations which showed Daymond-Harris had doctored bank statements to try and hide that he was out of the country.
Sentencing Daymond-Harris, district judge Paul Farmer said: 'This was a deliberate fraud which was dealt with in a sophisticated way.
'Clearly it is appropriate that you and people like you are given a deterrent sentence.'
Daymond-Harris told the authorities he was working behind a bar earning £90 for 16 hours-a-week at a pub in High Wycombe, Bucks.
But suspicions were roused by unexplained deposits in his account shown on bank statements he gave in support of the claim and official documents later revealed he was actually the registered licensee of the pub.
Land Registry documents then proved that the flat was owned by Daymond-Harris's parents - in contradiction to what he had claimed.

But the final nail in the coffin came after investigators found an online blog by his then seven-year-old son - which documented in detail their Caribbean cruise to St Lucia.

Plymouth City Council then obtained Daymond-Harris' original bank statements, which showed cash withdrawals in the Caribbean, which he claimed had been made at retail outlet Trago Mills in Devon.

Helen Morris, prosecuting for Plymouth City Council, said: 'When it was put to him in interview that a cash withdrawal made in St Lucia was changed to Trago Mills he admitted that it did not look terribly good.'

Daymond-Harris admitted changing the bank statements, putting the wrong landlord's name on his claim, making up entirely false rent books and confessed to never paying any rent on the property.

He admitted making a false statement to obtain benefit in August 2006, and also two similar offences in March 2007 and May 2008 including submitting a false bank statement, rent book and a false written statement to support his claim.

Daymond-Harris also revealed he had repaid the entire sum back to the authorities thanks to a loan from his father.

Representing himself in court, Daymond-Harris said: 'I know this is very serious and I am very sorry. I can assure you I will not appear in court again. I cannot say why I did it, I just don't know.'

A Plymouth City Council spokesman said after the case: 'Benefit fraud is not a victimless crime. Those who obtain benefit fraudulently are stealing from the city and from the people of Plymouth.'



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1DNqs2pSy

[Executive]

Some Interesting comments, I wonder what they would have written if the father was a somali

As dishonest as benefit cheats are, can you honestly blame them ?? It is so easily to take money out of the UK sometimes I dont blame them having a go at it like everyone else.

Who cares?? Really?? My friend doesn't pay tax, and he earns a fortune living in UK, He claims all kinds of money in UK, and not often there, so many people are. If the government are foolish enough to pay, and are not checking then damn them!! -

What's wrong with what he's done he's not working and claiming benefits he's only on the benefits.

Oh give the bloke a chance.

[BlackVelvet]

Hypocrites