Croydon mother faked children's illness to claim almost £400k in benefits

Guilty: the woman will be sentenced next month
Lucy Ray/Daily Mail
Hannah Al-Othman19 July 2016
WEST END FINAL

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A Croydon mother who subjected her children to unnecessary surgery so she could claim almost £400,000 in benefits has been found guilty of child cruelty.

The 48-year-old, who even had her children's stomachs fitted with gastronomy tubes they didn't need, was also convicted of fraud offences following a trial at Croydon Crown Court yesterday.

She was found guilty following a three-year investigation by detectives which was launched after concerns the woman had lied about her children's illnesses.

The court heard that, over the course of at least ten years, the mother presented her young son and daughter to various doctors, claiming they suffered from conditions including including severe asthma, autism, urology problems and gastric complications.

As a result her children underwent unnecessary medical treatment, including surgery to have gastronomy tubes fitted to their stomachs, enabling them to be fed through a tube, despite the fact that both children were perfectly able to eat normally.

Her son was also given steroid medication despite the fact that he did not display the signs of severe asthma the woman insisted and did not show the chronic wheezing and breathlessness she reported to doctors when he was at school.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also encouraged her son to show behaviour which she believed were consistent with autism, and refused attempts by the child's nursery to toilet train him.

As a result of the fabricated illnesses she received £87,424.25 in Disability Living Allowance between October 2003 and February 2014. Despite living with her partner, who was earning up to £38,000 a year, she also falsely claimed Income Support benefit.

In total, she falsely claimed benefits to the amount of £375,198.02.

Detectives arrested the woman at their home address in May 2013, for child cruelty and neglect.

During a search of the property, police found a large amount of unused prescribed medication including asthma drugs, nappies and gastro milk and feeding equipment, with an estimated cost to the NHS of £145,870.

She will be sentenced on August 15 at the same court.

Investigating Officer, Detective Sergeant Stuart Parsons, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: "This truly was a complex investigation, where the evidence we painstaking gathered has resulted in the jury convicting a woman who committed cruelty against her own children for financial gain.

"The investigation was meticulous and detailed, and in order to prove the offences we looked at all aspects of the family, their lifestyle and their financial, medical and education history."

He said: "It is staggering to think that the mother's willful actions resulted in the children undergoing unnecessary surgical and medical interventions. She lied at every opportunity, presenting herself as a lone parent coping with ill and vulnerable children.

"The reality was that she resided with her partner and fabricated her children's conditions for personal financial gain."

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