ianstone
04-19-2010, 01:16 AM
Travellers send children to private school and drive BMW after fleecing taxpayer in £100,000 benefits scam
By Tom Kelly (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Tom+Kelly)
Last updated at 11:12 PM on 18th April 2010 http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/04/18/article-1267071-091F3FFD000005DC-543_233x423.jpg
No remorse: Wendy Newland
A family of travellers paid for their children to be privately educated by claiming more than £100,000 in illegal handouts.
Mother-of-three Wendy Newland, 40, drove a top-of-the-range BMW and took holidays to North America and Europe after fleecing taxpayers with fraudulent claims.
Several other members of her family orchestrated a string of scams to obtain benefits.
Most were committed on their 15-acre mobile home and caravan site near Chertsey, Surrey.
Neighbours said Newland bought cars including a new £40,000 BMW X5.
She sent her ten-year-old daughter Rhianna to the £10,000-a-year Coworth-Flexlands prep school near Sunningdale, Berkshire.
And her sons Matthew, 19, and Michael, 16, attended the £7,000-a-year St John's Beaumont Prep School in Old Windsor when they were younger.
Newland is awaiting sentence after last week admitting four counts of benefit fraud involving £51,428.07.
But yesterday she showed no remorse and giggled as she told the Daily Mail: 'No one got hurt and we had a good time.
'Everyone wants to do the best for themselves and their children. I'm sure a lot of others would have done it if they would have thought of it. That's all I can say.'
Surrey Police raided the family's Green Acre Farm in 2002 when they found evidence of a cannabis factory, and 3,000 mobile phones worth £500,000 which had been stolen in an armed hijack.
No members of the family were implicated in those discoveries. But after a long-running investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions around 60 police officers raided the farm in 2008.
At Guildford Crown Court, Newland admitted two counts of obtaining property by deception and two of obtaining money transfers by deception by not declaring she was living with roofer Matthew Newland or that she was receiving income.
Her former sister-in-law, Caroline Draper Smith, 40, admitted five counts of fraud worth almost £51,000. Newland's mother Lena Draper-Smith, 70, has admitted one count of fraud worth £154.31.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/04/18/article-1267071-09304665000005DC-749_468x363.jpg
Prep school: £7,000-a-year St John's Beaumont in Old Windsor
Nelson Draper-Smith, Newland's 46-year-old brother, who is wheelchair-bound, admitted false representation after lying to the council to receive housing benefits.
He was ordered to pay £65 after the court heard how he had not made any money from the attempted fraud.
The rest of the family who have pleaded guilty will be sentenced on May 7. Matthew Newland, who is now estranged from his wife, was also due in court but jumped bail. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Lee Draper Smith, Lena's husband, has been charged with £75,397.90 of benefit fraud. He is said to be unwell and not fit to plead.
The corruption show by the lawless travellers and thieves, who are a law unto themselves. They are the lowest form known to man.. Yes I lived near these scumbags as well.
I just genuinely hate them with a passion, sorry guys but I do, and with good reason.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267071/Scam-sends-travellers-prep-school-BMW-driving-caravan-site-woman-admits-benefit-fraud.html#ixzz0lWHHeD12 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267071/Scam-sends-travellers-prep-school-BMW-driving-caravan-site-woman-admits-benefit-fraud.html#ixzz0lWHHeD12)
By Tom Kelly (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Tom+Kelly)
Last updated at 11:12 PM on 18th April 2010 http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/04/18/article-1267071-091F3FFD000005DC-543_233x423.jpg
No remorse: Wendy Newland
A family of travellers paid for their children to be privately educated by claiming more than £100,000 in illegal handouts.
Mother-of-three Wendy Newland, 40, drove a top-of-the-range BMW and took holidays to North America and Europe after fleecing taxpayers with fraudulent claims.
Several other members of her family orchestrated a string of scams to obtain benefits.
Most were committed on their 15-acre mobile home and caravan site near Chertsey, Surrey.
Neighbours said Newland bought cars including a new £40,000 BMW X5.
She sent her ten-year-old daughter Rhianna to the £10,000-a-year Coworth-Flexlands prep school near Sunningdale, Berkshire.
And her sons Matthew, 19, and Michael, 16, attended the £7,000-a-year St John's Beaumont Prep School in Old Windsor when they were younger.
Newland is awaiting sentence after last week admitting four counts of benefit fraud involving £51,428.07.
But yesterday she showed no remorse and giggled as she told the Daily Mail: 'No one got hurt and we had a good time.
'Everyone wants to do the best for themselves and their children. I'm sure a lot of others would have done it if they would have thought of it. That's all I can say.'
Surrey Police raided the family's Green Acre Farm in 2002 when they found evidence of a cannabis factory, and 3,000 mobile phones worth £500,000 which had been stolen in an armed hijack.
No members of the family were implicated in those discoveries. But after a long-running investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions around 60 police officers raided the farm in 2008.
At Guildford Crown Court, Newland admitted two counts of obtaining property by deception and two of obtaining money transfers by deception by not declaring she was living with roofer Matthew Newland or that she was receiving income.
Her former sister-in-law, Caroline Draper Smith, 40, admitted five counts of fraud worth almost £51,000. Newland's mother Lena Draper-Smith, 70, has admitted one count of fraud worth £154.31.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/04/18/article-1267071-09304665000005DC-749_468x363.jpg
Prep school: £7,000-a-year St John's Beaumont in Old Windsor
Nelson Draper-Smith, Newland's 46-year-old brother, who is wheelchair-bound, admitted false representation after lying to the council to receive housing benefits.
He was ordered to pay £65 after the court heard how he had not made any money from the attempted fraud.
The rest of the family who have pleaded guilty will be sentenced on May 7. Matthew Newland, who is now estranged from his wife, was also due in court but jumped bail. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Lee Draper Smith, Lena's husband, has been charged with £75,397.90 of benefit fraud. He is said to be unwell and not fit to plead.
The corruption show by the lawless travellers and thieves, who are a law unto themselves. They are the lowest form known to man.. Yes I lived near these scumbags as well.
I just genuinely hate them with a passion, sorry guys but I do, and with good reason.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267071/Scam-sends-travellers-prep-school-BMW-driving-caravan-site-woman-admits-benefit-fraud.html#ixzz0lWHHeD12 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267071/Scam-sends-travellers-prep-school-BMW-driving-caravan-site-woman-admits-benefit-fraud.html#ixzz0lWHHeD12)