A scheming former town hall worker fiddled benefit claims even though he had £750,000 in the bank.Benefit staff became suspicious of Christopher Barcroft when they discovered he was pocketing large sums of interest from undeclared accounts, and now he's been jailed.Barcroft, 44, swindled £32,518 in housing and council tax benefit over 10 years.He submitted a renewal form each year, detailing his place of work, income and the fact that he had only one current account containing `a few hundred pounds'. The former lesiure manager for Tameside council was jailed for three months at Manchester Crown Court.His assets will be subject to a confiscation hearing early next year, following a High Court application by the council.Deputy council leader Joe Kitchen said: "I sincerely hope this prison sentence acts as a suitable deterrent to anyone else who's thinking of abusing the benefits system in this way." Barcroft, of Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge, pleaded guilty to one count of theft, two of deception and 10 of making false representations. A further 28 similar offences were taken into consideration.Barcroft worked for Remploy in Wythenshawe from 2000 until earlier this year. The company is government owned and provides employment for disabled people.When interviewed, Barcroft said he did not declare his bank accounts because he was concerned there would be a security risk.A female relative of Barcroft said: "Chris wishes this matter to be kept private. "But he has consistently provided his National Insurance number, so any relevant details about his assets could have been identified while making any assessment regarding his applications. These were never questioned."Perhaps had this question been raised, this matter could have been concluded much sooner."When passing sentence, the judge commented about his references of good character." Manchester Evening NewsSheer and utter greed – no other words to describe the actions of this man! The one thing I find curious about this case though is the fact that “benefit staff became suspicious when they discovered he was pocketing large sums of interest from ‘undeclared’ accounts”. How did they make this ‘discovery’? Is everyone’s bank details and financial status open for inspection by council benefit staff? Tameside Citizen
10 comments:
I don't think Cllr. Joe Kitchen is in any fit state to preach against crime!
Funny how this has been undetected for so long...
Erica gets you eventually now he will have to spend some of his £750,000 she will enjoy the back pay from him,lets hope he now understands the rules,not bad for a senior council official read one of the forms you fill in when applying for benefits.
It can be confusing to some with his education try it for yourself.
Q do you have any savings or investments, see its confusing and difficult you can see why this ex senior officer had difficulties so he said no and you paid his council tax for him.
It's been strongly rumoured that a certain CLLR whose named after a room in your house used their position to how can i put this use their INFLUANCE on local shops not to contact the local police involving a couple of scumbags who are in no way conected to this CLLR who is named after a room in your house *Alegedly*
These scumbags are Joe Kitchen's stepchildren *aledgedly*
Carl Griffiths Joe Kitchens step son well known scumbag in the Hyde area.
Well everyone on Welbeck Road are shit scared of Kitchen, they know what they will get with his step son if they cross him.
Get the local police to tell you about Carl Griffiths.
"if you can't stand the heat then, keep out of the kitchen."
they found it suspicious he was depositing this money
Isnt that like saying "i became suspicious that he was a bank robber when i saw him with a mask on his head waving a gun and the teller demanding they give him all the money"
you cant get anything past em can you!
On a serious note folks, the Jobcentreplus people have a lot to answer for in cases like this. They consistently mislead disabled workers about the benefits they are entitled to, just so they can meet their performance targets and boast about how many people they have got back into employment.
Remploy is a government funded company specifically set up to provide employment for the disabled. Wages are very poor and many of the workforce would be equally as well off sitting at home all day and living off the welfare state. But they don't because they want to work and they want to contribute to society. They appreciate that a job offers more than a wage. It offers a sense of purpose and direction in life.
All low paid workers should be entitled to some kind of benefit from the state, irrespective of their circumstances. Otherwise their disposable income would fall below that of a person on the National Minimum Wage. And where would be the incentive to go to work then?
Time and time again we lose valuable members of our workforce who have been guaranteed benefits by Jobcentreplus, only to have them snatched back by their local authority. This particular case is alarming. How on earth did it take the local authority 8 years to inform a claimant he was not entitled to benefit? Something tells me that the staff who process claims have not been doing their job. Maybe the benefit investigators should be investigating the council staff!
The only answer is to wind up the benefits system as we know it. With the exception of the most severely disabled members of society, everyone else should have to earn their benefit, just like we do in the Remploy factories. And full marks to this government. They are about to make the 2.5 million claimants of Incapacity Benefit do just that, many of whom have illnesses that have long passed by.
Just had the figures through for this case. What a coup for TMBC. A lovely little earner.
Wenz may have long gone, but no doubt Smithy's team will be getting an early Xmas bonus once Auntie Ilys hears the news.
Three cheers. We always get em in the end.
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