Benefit fraud couple faked 16 children

[11th April 2008]

A Weston-super-Mare couple have been sentenced after claiming thousands of pounds in benefits for 16 non-existent children.

Danny Wilshaw, 58, has claimed £75,000 in benefits in four years and has been given a 20-month jail sentence. His partner, Nancy Stevenson, 59, claimed £11,000 in child tax credits in four years. Stevenson's been given a 12-month non-custodial order and must observe a curfew from 7pm and 7am.

The couple exposed a loophole, as they didn't have to send birth certificates to tax officials to prove they existed.

Wilshaw, who has 85 previous convictions for fraud and 105 theft convictions, used the money to fund his gambling habit. Stevenson used the money to fund her two-bottles-of-brandy-a-day drinking habit.

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