Husband "orchestrated" benefit fruad in Harrow (From Harrow Times)

Husband "orchestrated" benefit fruad in Harrow

3:28pm Thursday 4th December 2008

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A WOMAN who stole almost £63,000 in benefits on the orders of her “dictatorial” husband has escaped jail.

Gurmeet Kohli, 48, pretended to be a single mother renting a home in Oxleay Court, Rayners Lane to fraudulently claim housing benefits, council tax relief, and income support between 2000 and 2005.

However, the Indian-born mother of three was hiding the fact she had since 1983 been married to Taranjit Singh Sardar, the man she was claiming was her landlord.

Money she was receiving from Harrow Council and the Department for Work and Pension was being channeled straight into Sardar's bank account, and Kohli was using the little money she was given by her husband to feed and provide for her children.

Kohli told the court her husband was a drunk and often used violence against her, leading to problems in their marriage.

She said the benefits scam was his idea, and although she accepted it was wrong for her to play a part in it by filling in the forms and collecting the money, she did not feel like she had any other choice.

Sardar was facing the same charges as his wife over the fraud, but died in May this year from alcoholic liver cirrhosis and multiple organ failure.

Since his death, it has emerged Sardar was regularly staying away from the family home, and was racking up debts through credit card registered at his brother's address.

Kohli has been saddled with more than £40,000 of her late husband's debts, as well as paying back the thousands stolen by the couple in benefits.

The couple moved in 2005 to Clitheroe Avenue, and tried to start up the same scam, but officials became suspicious and launched an investigation.

Sentencing Kohli today at Harrow Crown Court, Judge Breen said: “There's a body of evidence which suggests that this fraud was orchestrated by your late husband and further that he was a dictatorial and threatening man towards you.

“It appears you did not benefit extensively from this fraud in terms that were able to live a lifestyle which involved spending your ill gotten gains on luxury goods.

“Money you received was used by you for food and essentials for your three children.

“But even allowing for the fact these offences were orchestrated by your late husband, you played an important, significant, and essential role without which it would not have been possible for these frauds to have been perpetrated.”

The judge spared Kohli a jail sentence, which would have been usual for this kind of crime, ordering her to complete 120 hours community service and a 12 month rehabilitation programme.

She faces a confiscation hearing in April next year to determine how much money she will pay back, but has already begun repaying money in small installments.

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