Mother jailed for £93k tax credit fraud
A former St Austell tax office worker who stole over £93,000 in tax credit payments, by saying she was single when she lived with her husband, has been jailed for 18 months
Tracey Oakley, 43, from St Stephen, also lied by inflating the true cost of childcare, including making claims for three years when none was provided. She was sentenced to two consecutive nine-month sentences at Truro Crown Court on Friday.
When challenged for evidence of her claims, in an attempt to hide her deception Oakley provided false consecutively numbered handwritten invoices and a fake childcare contract. The childcare receipts showed payments were made in cash, but this was not supported by Oakley's bank statements. She claimed childcare costs of around £280 a week. The fraud took place between November 2006 and September 2012.
The fraud was uncovered by HMRC's Tax Credit Office and referred for criminal investigation.
HMRC said:
Tracey Oakley, 43, from St Stephen, also lied by inflating the true cost of childcare, including making claims for three years when none was provided. She was sentenced to two consecutive nine-month sentences at Truro Crown Court on Friday.
When challenged for evidence of her claims, in an attempt to hide her deception Oakley provided false consecutively numbered handwritten invoices and a fake childcare contract. The childcare receipts showed payments were made in cash, but this was not supported by Oakley's bank statements. She claimed childcare costs of around £280 a week. The fraud took place between November 2006 and September 2012.
The fraud was uncovered by HMRC's Tax Credit Office and referred for criminal investigation.
HMRC said:
Oakley stole from her employer and the wider public. She has lost her job and reputation, and gained a prison sentence. HMRC investigates any suspicion of wrongdoing and our internal security systems led to this successful prosecution.She got away with it for nearly six years and helped herself to £93,000.
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