Friday 7 December 2012

A Child, Or A ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ Card?

A mum conned more than £40,000 from the taxpayer because she did not want to live in a council house, a court heard.
I can understand that. Neither do I.
Elizabeth Dempsey kept quiet about her £90,000 nest egg when signing forms for income support, council tax and housing benefit.
Ximena Jones, defending, said Dempsey wanted the best for her son, who has autism.
She said: “She wanted to live in a nice house in a nice area. She thought if she told the truth she knew it would mean a change in her lifestyle.”
*sighs*

Well, that ‘nest egg’ will cover the money she owes us taxpayers quite nicely, won’t it?

Oh.
The court heard how Dempsey, 41, of Horsecroft Road, has paid back £3,000 and was now paying the rest out of her income support benefits – because she had spent all her savings on her lifestyle. Miss Jones said her client knew she faced jail but was petrified about the impact of this on her son.
*grinds teeth*
Sentencing Judge Patrick Hooton told Dempsey: “You should have thought of him when you started this fraud.
"You must have realised at some stage while you stole all that money from the taxpayer that your child, who does not necessarily have all the advantages, was at risk of being left without a mother.
“Because people who are caught with this sort of money, stealing it like you did, go to prison – do you understand?”
Well, she’s got no need to understand, really, has she? Because – of course! – she didn’t have to go!
But Judge Hooton stepped back from jailing her on the spot, instead suspending a 12 month sentence for two years, imposing a supervision order plus 100 hours’ unpaid work.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Who said crime doesn’t pay?

20 comments:

LJH said...

Be nice, if being found guilty of fraud prevented the guilty party from ever making another claim on welfare. ( hears squealing)

Anonymous said...

Bunny,

That would work for me, can you imagine another contractual arrangement where the contract was terminally breached but it made no difference to the continuation of the relationship.

John Pickworth said...

£90,000 nest egg!! A lot of golden gooses in Romsey then? Because that's some nest egg.

And, how convenient, a child with a syndrome too. While we have no way to know, I wonder if he has an actual medical case of Autism or is it merely one of those myriad phantom conditions imprinted on so many kids by their parents? Not only is he special (as in more special than every other kid in the neighbourhood/universe) but he's precious too (as in a key to the benefits treasure chest. But of course, he's a complete mystery to medical science too, but what do the doctors know hey? At least judge Hooton was more enlightened.

Anyway, I just hope she pays us taxpayers back before Christmas because I'd like to spend my share on an iPod for myself.

Noggin the Nog said...

Wrong as it is, how can the 'common' man be expected to obey the financial laws regarding benefits in the UK when the people that make those laws are raping the taxpayer day after day after day?

That little bastard Osborne had the front to whine about people legally avoiding tax, when he himself has illegally claimed 60 grand on a second house that was funded by the taxpayer, and has subsequently refused to pay it back.

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX her son, who has autism. XX

Oh, don't the fucking ALL!?

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX £90,000 nest egg!! XX

Aye. You really want to risk a slander charge for suggesting the TRUTH as to wher that money MAY have come from?

I MISS Liverpool dock road on a Saturday night.

Anonymous said...

Local informants tell me that Ms dempsey is as English as her defence counsel - Xemina(?) Jones. Single mother, legal aided solicitor of the same(?) racial persuasion - what else could one expect but a suspended sentence and a requirement to do unpaid work - which she will not do. Justice is as justice will!
Penseivat

John Pickworth said...

I MISS Liverpool dock road on a Saturday night.

Mmmmm a Southport lad then. Some of us had to make do with half-price Wednesday afternoons.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Na. Wallasey/Birkenhaed.

JuliaM said...

"Be nice, if being found guilty of fraud prevented the guilty party from ever making another claim on welfare."

Well, why not? I'd vote for that!

"A lot of golden gooses in Romsey then? Because that's some nest egg."

Quite!

"That little bastard Osborne had the front to whine about people legally avoiding tax, when he himself has illegally claimed 60 grand on a second house that was funded by the taxpayer, and has subsequently refused to pay it back."

And I doubt he's the only one. But we can't expect them to have standards, clearly.

"Local informants tell me that Ms dempsey is as English as her defence counsel - Xemina(?) Jones. Single mother, legal aided solicitor of the same(?) racial persuasion..."

Hmm, really? Interesting.

John Pickworth said...

Na. Wallasey/Birkenhaed

Was in Morton recently, nice enough place I suppose... if you like Typhoo ;-)

Tatty said...

Furor - "Na. Wallasey/Birkenhaed.

Well, which is it ? There are docks and bridges seperating those areas...I live in one of them...with a longstanding tradition of one side's treating the other's population as immigrants LOL

Furor Teutonicus said...

Worked one, lived in the other.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Liverpool dock road was the "overtime van."

Tatty said...

"Worked one, lived in the other.

Ahuh me too. Small world this t'internet thingy turns out to be sometimes innit. :)

Anonymous said...

Let's see how many boxes of negatives this disgusting person ticks.
1. Liar
2. Thief
3. Lazy
4. Irresponsible
5. Narcissist
6. Sociopath
7.

Anonymous said...

UPDATE Elizabeth Dempsey is now awaiting trial for ATTEMPTED MURDER of her neighbour.

Anonymous said...

Didn't want things to impact on her son?
Now she's in prison on remand for attempted murder! That's pretty impacting on her son!!!
Judges are not the best people to do the judging it seems!!!!

Anonymous said...

It was her lesbian lover who was about to dump her, not her neighbour. She stabbed her in front of her partners 8 year old daughter.

Unknown said...

Were is she now? What jail?