Over a ten-year period, Angela Lloyd dishonestly pocketed nearly £170,000, spinning a series of lies about her employment at Tesco, a non-existent caravan, and fabricated medical conditions she falsely claimed her teenage son had. The part-time care worker also invented aliases and used a deceased woman's identity as part of a scam that saw her partner Lee Phillips rake in an additional £100,000. A judge informed them yesterday that they had acted "for reasons of personal greed" while executing a "substantial and determined fraud on the public purse".
Liverpool Crown Court was told on Tuesday afternoon that Lloyd claimed a total of £169,394.15 in housing benefit, personal independence payments and carers allowance over 11-and-a-half years, to which she was not entitled. Meanwhile, Phillips helped himself to £100.980. 71 in false claims for employment support allowance, PIP, housing benefit and council tax reduction over approximately five-and-a-half years from April 2018 onwards, reports the Daily Record.
Olivia Beesley, the prosecutor, detailed how Lloyd's scam first kicked off in February 2012. She began claiming housing benefits from West Lancashire Borough Council for a caravan at a "fictitious address" of Riverside Walk in Southport. The 58 year old even concocted a bogus tenancy agreement for the "entirely fictitious" caravan, enabling her to swindle £71,597.16 from the local council.
Lloyd then started making fraudulent claims on behalf of Phillips to St Helens Borough Council in 2018. She falsely stated that her husband required "multiple daily carers to attend to his needs" and used his sister Zoe Phillips' birth certificate to impersonate the sibling, whom she deceitfully claimed was his primary carer.
She also alleged that she was unemployed due to caring responsibilities for her co-defendant, which she said totalled 35 hours per week. However, she was actually employed by care company Hand in Hand Homecare under the alias Wendy Lloyd and at a Tesco store using the name Angela Valentine.
This resulted in her pocketing £73,085.29 in relation to costs for non-existent carers, as well as £753.40 in carers allowance. From January 2022, Lloyd then began to "fabricate false medical conditions for her son" and claimed that he had a carer named Joyce Bibby, a woman who had passed away before the claim was made.
Consequently, she made false claims of £9,922.95 in disability living allowance overpayments and £508.75 in personal independence payments for the then 15 year old boy. At the same time, she received £13,526.70 in PIP payments by claiming she required carers for daily assistance due to her health conditions, again citing the deceased Ms Bibby as her social worker.
Phillips also failed to inform the council that Lloyd had moved into his Birch Gardens home in St Helens in 2018, allowing him to claim £13,633.67 in housing benefits and £2,246.94 in council tax reductions under the false pretence that he was living alone. Furthermore, the 54 year old was accused of exaggerating his medical conditions, care needs, and capabilities, claiming he was "unable to do anything for himself" to receive PIP overpayments of £32,073.88.
After declaring himself unfit for work and claiming to have no other income, disregarding his wife's wages, he falsely obtained an additional £51,397.13 in employment support allowance. Phillips later claimed that Lloyd "had completed the form for him and had just asked him to sign it". His counsel, Jim Smith, stated on his behalf: "It is right to say that, since the figures in relation to overpayments have been calculated, the defendant has been repaying through Universal Credit deductions. Clearly, he has a substantial amount to repay.
"The defendant has a complex recent history of mental health and physical disabilities. He suffers from a functional neurological disorder. He has a pacemaker with a defibrillator fitted. He is a type two diabetic. He suffers from kidney failure, anxiety and depression. He is in receipt of substantial medication to treat those conditions and is presently seen by a number of carers who attend to his medication and mobility issues. He appears in court today in a wheelchair.
"It is respectfully submitted that the defendant would be highly vulnerable in a custodial setting. I would respectfully submit that your honour can draw back from that sanction.
"He has no previous like convictions. His original benefits were legitimate from the outset and became illegitimate following a failure to notify a change of circumstances following involvement with the co-defendant in his life. Clearly, there are vulnerability issues in his case."
Lloyd's criminal record show a series of previous entries for dishonesty offences and theft dating back to the 1980s, although her last appearance came in 2012. Jeremy Rawson, defending, told the court: "Her record, I accept, does not assist her, but it is of some age. She accepts full responsibility for what she has done and accepts in her letter to your honour that she does have to be punished for that. She has personal mitigation. She continues in employment. She is making some repayments. She is working in the caring profession. She has caring responsibilities with her son."
Lloyd pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud by false representation, sobbing "oh my god" when told she would serve two years. Phillips admitted to fraud by false representation and dishonestly failing to disclose information for personal gain on three counts. He too became visibly upset as he was given a 20-month sentence.
