Barnsley fan jailed

No one wants to string her up. As Jay rightly says, she shouldn’t really be doing prison time.

I’m not sure sharing money fairly with people that don’t want to work is the answer to any question.

 

Always the problem when you’re comparing like for like instead of assessing individually. It’s obvious there are benefit cheats, there are self-employed who avoid/evade tax illegally. By all means deal with them, but prison, really. Unless it’s extremes like organised gangs committing multi-benefit fraud of course. My wife used to work for the Child Support Agency (CSA), and she alway used to say (sarcastically) it’s amazing how many well-established self-employed males don’t make enough to pay anything towards the upkeep of their children

 

Your interpretation is wrong. ‘Cooking the books’ is just a term I used as you brought up the subject of ‘tax evasion’ - Sheriff rightly corrected you that it’s actually ‘tax avoidance’, which isn’t illegal.

Cooking the books actually means inflating turnover and down playing expenses, as if to make a business look more profitable. I just thought I’d throw it in to see how much you actually know about what youre actually assuming self employed people do.

Nowhere have I defended self employed people fiddling, and neither have I accused you of defending a benefits cheat.

You actually started comparing apples and oranges, and I’ve been trying to point out that the two are totally different, for the reasons I’ve stated.

 

Absolutely nailed it mate, but I’ll also say there are also a lot of self employed people out there that genuinely aren’t wealthy. They just prefer to be their own boss and plod on at their own pace. Self employed by circumstance rather than choice.

 

An old friend of the wifes got done a few years ago (I've never met her). She was sentenced to ~2 years inside for about claiming benefits under multiple aliases for the best part of a decade (IIRC around £200k). Most of it went (according to her) on private school fees for her autistic sons who were struggling in mainstream education. Her husband was unaware and had a responsible position involving finance. Her father died while she was in prison, so she missed the last months with him.

They had to sell the house to repay the money, and moved somewhere smaller. He was lucky to keep his job. Her kids suffered as a result. She has been fired twice from jobs after leaving prison because she didn't declare it, although she now has a job that is aware of her past.

I'd agree with you on the community service and repayment. Spending every weekend for a couple of years doing community work would punish her just as much. She isn't likely to do it again. Leave prison for those committing violent crimes and threatening violence.

Although the counterpoint is, at what point does paying it back and community service not fit the crime. Michelle Mone is accused of taking £200m+ for dodgy PPE. That deserves more than repayment and some community service. Should the line be £500k, £1million, £10million?

 

Around 5.4 million people run a small business with less than 5 employees. Its the largest sector in the country.

 

Which backs up my earlier post that self employed people contribute a hell of a lot more to the economy than benefit cheats.

 

I think when your a working person get off your arse everyday pay taxes crimes like this piss you off more.

Yeah your right it's only 8k a year she's stealing by claiming she is unable to work due to health. Benefits should be a last resort short term if your out of work or long term if you are genuinely unable to work. I've got no time for people who cheat the system, parasites.

 

Maybe if we just said no more benefits for you until you pay back the 60k you've wrongfully stolen in benefits rather than prison.

 

Man who owns the factory & the man from the corner shop both assuming each has a better lot in life.

Bit like this thread. Someone has been named, shamed and banged to rights, but let’s assume some other nameless people are doing bad things too, so we can normalise her behaviour.

 

Maybe, but you could end up starving someone to death, be much better all round if after having being named and shamed, they pay back in Community work of some sorts

 

I know mate , know quite a few myself including my own brother. However, the CSA thing was an absolute joke, the amounts they ‘declared’. Forgot to mention the figures weren’t checked on, just took them for their word.

 

I think there will be criminal charges on the way for her and her hubby.

 

There's one thing about the BBS. A lot of posters no matter their opinions. You can tell they're decent people of integrity. I think that about Barnsley folk in general. A lot of them have a gut instinct and know when sumats off mate.

 

Never seen anyone compare blokes selling firesticks to killing kids on here. I think your getting mixed up people compared huw Edwards sentance to blokes getting jailed for firesticks but it's going off topic abit on this thread.

 

More like 4.28 million methinks

 

1.12 million fiddling the numbers.

 

Probably this woman isn't alone they will be loads of benefits cheats claiming sick when they could work I imagine it's hard and costly to build up a case and prosecute.

 

Doesn't give much of a deterant though does it after fraudulently claiming over 60k of benefits. People comparing it to self employed people fiddling the books, if a self employed person gets caught hmrc aren't so forgiving you would pay it ALL back and they would take your belongings if unable to make payments.

 

I do completely get that but for me there has to be a large deterrent and punishment and I don't think paying stolen money back is a punishment nor do I think having to work a few weeks worth of community service is in any way a punishment after sitting on your arse stealing money for 8 years.

Plus she will never ever be able to pay it all back, we all know that. She'd have to get an amazingly well paid job to have any chance of paying it back over a large number of years and that's not going to happen for a convicted fraudster who hasn't done a day's work in almost a decade and to pay it back in community service would involve working every weekend for the next 30 years or something daft so she has absolutely no way of even settling her debt nevermind having an ounce of punishment given to her without her going to prison.