Convicted fraudster nurse to repay more
A Merseyside nurse, who claimed her child was severely disabled to increase her Tax Credits has been ordered to repay over £110,000 or go back to jail for a year. Cheryl Henwood, 48, of Heswall, Wirral, was convicted of fraudulently claiming over £92,000 Tax Credits, over 6 years and was jailed in 2013. She used the money to pay for family holidays to Florida and Dubai, to buy a holiday home in Wales and a BMW with personalised number plates. Henwood repaid the money before her original sentencing in 2013, but later appealed the sentence and repayment through the courts in 2014. After extensive investigations into her financial transactions by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), His Honour Judge Watson QC ordered that the full cost must be repaid, in addition to over £18,499 in interest, within three months or Henwood must return to jail for 12 months. Adrian Farley, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC, said:- "Cheryl Henwood lived a life most of us can only dream of all at the expense of the taxpayer. She deliberately lied, knowing that she would get more money and didn't care that she was cheating honest Tax Credits customers who are entitled to greater payments because of genuine disability. Our investigators discovered that Henwood and her family had enjoyed trips costing thousands of pounds, including a Disney cruise and holidays in Dubai and Florida, while committing the fraud. Henwood also bought a holiday chalet in Abersoch, Wales, and spent large amounts of cash on luxury goods, a jet ski, horse box and other vehicles. Tax Credits fraud isn't a harmless fiddle; it's cheating, pure and simple. HMRC will track down people like Henwood we won't hesitate to investigate and recover stolen public funds." Henwood's lies to HMRC began in 2004 when she made her 1st Tax Credits claim. For the next 6 years she renewed the claim saying that her circumstances had not changed. But HMRC investigators discovered that she had been living with her husband throughout that period and falsely claimed that her eldest child was disabled.
