Two fraudsters carried out a voucher scam affecting hard-up families. David McSherry, 33, and Susan Paterson, 24, conned victims in Glasgow’s Gorbals who believed the pair had actually been helping them.
08.02.2023 - 19:01 / dailyrecord.co.uk
A conman who hid a 20-year relationship to dupe taxpayers out of nearly £30,000 has been sent to prison for eight months. Graeme Dewar pretended he was living alone for years despite having a common law wife he operated joint bank accounts with.
Sheriff William Wood told Dewar he was lucky that the benefits agency had not been able to provide paperwork for any earlier than 2014. He said it was "perhaps fortunate" for Dewar that he could only be found guilty of fraud covering the period between 1 June 2014 and 3 May 2018.
"Overall, it is a fraud of almost £30,000," Sheriff Wood said, "and therefore it is a considerable sum of money. This was a lengthy deception of both the council and the Department of Work and Pensions and in the circumstances I need to send you to prison."
Dewar, 68, spent years duping a local authority and the Department of Work and Pensions into paying him thousands in benefits. An investigation was launched when an eagle-eyed agency worker eventually noticed payments were being made into a joint bank account.
Dewar was found guilty of conning the DWP out of £11,647.80 between 1 June 2014 and 3 May 2018 at West Culmalundie Farm Cottages in Tibbermore, Perthshire. He was found guilty of knowingly failing to give prompt notification of a change of circumstances while he was living in a common household with Sally Hamilton. He obtained £11,647.80 in Employment Support Allowance.
Dewar was also found guilty of fraudulently obtaining £16,418.95 housing benefit from Perth and Kinross Council between 1 June 2014 and 6 May 2018. Fiscal depute Rebecca Kynaston told Perth Sheriff Court that the same situation had persisted since 2001, when the couple had started living together.
However, she said that due to the
Two fraudsters carried out a voucher scam affecting hard-up families. David McSherry, 33, and Susan Paterson, 24, conned victims in Glasgow’s Gorbals who believed the pair had actually been helping them.
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