A Deaf man has been jailed for 20 months for defrauding the DWP out of £80,000 in Access to Work funds.
Extract from STV news:
A businessman who won Britain’s top accolade for disabled entrepreneurs used his company to defraud the taxpayer of £80,000.
Andrew Thomson won the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs for his work in establishing Sign-now.com, providing video conferencing for the deaf.
Thomson pleaded guilty to defrauding the DWP of the £80,000 sum between January 1 and November 30, 2011.
His wife’s plea of not guilty to involvement was accepted.
The judge said: “In the circumstances I am satisfied that a custodial sentence is the only appropriate sentence.”
Read the full story here: http://stv.tv/news/stirling-central/1353731-man-used-deaf-business-to-defraud-80000-from-grant-scheme/
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Cathy
May 12, 2016
So this long standing case is now over? It is a real shame that someone of such standing should be in such a position.
Prison is not designed for disabled people especially for those profoundly deaf. He is going to have a tough time, but it serves him right.
Other deaf people are placed in bad light through the antics of this man and it is wholly unfair for others who are trying to do good to be branded the same as this bloke’s ilk.
I think it would not be out of place for this man to apologise, unreservedly, to the Deaf Community, even though it would probably go down like a lead balloon. The Deaf community is largely unforgiving and being ostracised is highly likely to last many years, if not forever!
Natalya D
May 12, 2016
Every time there is a high profile AtW fraud it makes it harder for the rest of us to get and use AtW legitimately. I do not understand how people can do this. Of course the DWP won’t make AtW properly secure while adding other hoops to waste our time and energy which aren’t security…
David
May 13, 2016
The right wing media are demonising people who claim benefits in this country and the media likes to exaggerate benefit fraud despite the real reality is that it’s 0.7%.
We have seen in this country that the rich are quick to avoid paying their taxes and we are seeing bankers earning huge bonuses even in a time of austerity; the moral of this is that you will always get people who try to play the system, Andrew Thomson pleaded guilty and he will be punished according by the justice system.
What is annoying me is that people are up in arms in cases like this but they don’t apply the same energy when honest people are struggling with the DWP. If we had more people displaying the same energy with righteous people and we could be seeing things being better.
Once again, I have no sympathy for the likes of Andrew Thomson and it’s the way of the world either way if you are deaf or hearing because they will always try to milk the system and what we need a robust system and that’s where deaf people could come into play.
Let’s see more anger from the deaf world to the DWP on their shameless treatment of honest claimaints and we could be living in a better country.
Tim
May 13, 2016
I strongly disagree with Cathy and ironically, perhaps, she provides the reason for it:
“Prison is not designed for disabled people especially for those profoundly deaf. He is going to have a tough time..”
This means that the Deaf person is going to have a tougher sentence than the hearing person who has committed the same offence and therefore it does not ‘serve him right.’
Equality means treating people differently to take account of their circumstances and ensuring a fair and equal outcome. It could be argued, quite reasonably, that this sentence amounts to ‘solitary confinement,’ so I do not accept the judge’s reasoning.
He should be punished, but fairly.
Deafnotdaft
May 16, 2016
On the other hand, Tim, he knew what the risks were when he committed the crime. In other words, he committed the crime even though he knew he would be imprisoned for 20 months if he was apprehended. I think this is what makes it a fair punishment.
Tim
May 17, 2016
I’m sorry, Dnd, but that’s a terrible argument. Knowing in advance that a punishment will be unfair and unequal doesn’t make it fair or equal.