Signs Of The Times Part 2…

A FATHER who pocketed £80,000 in benefits by claiming he had 36 children was jailed yesterday .

As he sentenced Fraser to 13 months in jail, sheriff Alexander Jessop said he couldn't understand how the con had gone undetected for so long. The sheriff added: "These claims were going in and all the money was being paid into one bank account and no one made any inquiries to check him out.

"It seems surprising that a person can just phone up and have children added as a tax credit without any inquiry as to whether there are such children living with them".

Doesn’t seem so surprising to me, given the deplorable lack of commitment to stopping fraud in, well, nearly every branch of the government….!

After Fraser was sentenced, Anne-Marie Gordon of HM Revenue and Customs said: "The defendant deliberately claimed tax credits to which he was not entitled. This investigation has shown our determination to seek out people who are tempted to cheat the tax credit system by submitting fraudulent claims."

You might think that’s what it shows, love. Anyone else might think it showed what a shower of useless, expensive, unimaginative button-pushers are being employed in HMRC…