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Secret room benefits fraudster’s five years for £2m plus scams
A PENSIONER who amassed millions through a network of benefit scams run from a secret room in her Maida Vale home has been jailed.
Jean Hutchinson, 65, of Shirland Road, was sentenced at Blackfriar’s Crown Court to five years for masterminding one of Britain’s biggest benefit frauds, estimated at £2.4 million.
Hutchinson’s deaf-mute cousin, 63-year-old Ralph Dale, was also jailed for four years for conspiracy to defraud.
A children’s charity shop, run by Mrs Hutchinson, provided the front for her operation.
The headquarters was a secret room hidden at the back of her bedroom wardrode in a flat above.
For 13 years the fraudster scoured newspapers looking for stories about people who had emigrated to Australia. The court heard she had stolen more than 200 identities, pocketing up to £150 a week from each.
A folder, labelled “Heroes”, also found in the secret room, contained cuttings of other benefit fraudsters. |
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