News in Brief - September 2008
Jail for benefit fraudster
A benefits cheat who stole nearly £50,000 of taxpayers money has been jailed for 12 months.
Michelle Grand, 41, made false housing and Council Tax benefit claims while earning up to £95,000 a year as a saleswoman. She also took out a mortgage on a Stamford Hill flat now worth ?180,000, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.When fraud investigators caught up with her in 2006, they found she had £11,000 savings and bonds worth £20,000.
Judge Jacqueline Beech sentenced Grand to a year in jail after she admitted seven counts of ‘furnishing false information’ between May 1999 and August 2006 to claim £48,592 in benefits.
Grand now faces losing the flat in Clays Court, Dunsmure Road, under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Her defence claimed she had been in two abusive relationships with men who took the money from her at the time the crimes were committed.
Cllr Jamie Carswell, Deputy Mayor, said: “The taxpayers of Hackney end up being the victims of benefit fraud – and the message is clear – this will not be tolerated and fraudsters will be caught.”
Fine for selling dodgy goods
A Dalston trader has pleaded guilty to selling unsafe mobile phone chargers.
Janet Botchey, owner of Wonder, was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,963 in costs to the Council.
Hackney Trading Standards officers bought the mobile phone chargers in February. When tested, the X-plus chargers were found to be in danger of overheating and giving an electric shock.
Botchey, who could not say where she had got the chargers from, was prosecuted under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. She pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates Court on 3 September.
If you suspect that a trader is selling unsafe goods, contact Hackney Trading Standards on: 020 8356 4929.
Milestone Variety bus
The Variety Club’s Sunshine Coaches fleet has taken delivery of its 1,000th minibus, which was presented to Kevin Ward, Headteacher of Holmleigh School in Stamford Hill.
The milestone delivery of the 17-seater was made at Sandown Park on 30 August during the 50th annual Variety Club Raceday.
Sunshine Coach Chairman Ken Mustoe said: “In delivering this new vehicle to Holmleigh School we are continuing a trend started by the Variety Club in 1962 when we delivered our very first Sunshine Coach. Since then we’ve supplied vehicles to more than 4,830 organisations nationwide.”
Blooming fields
Young people from the London Fields area have taken part in a series of creative arts activities.
Hothouse Blooms, Birds and Bees, is supported by the Council and organised by Free Form, which brought in artists to help children make sculptures, paintings and whirly gigs to display around the park. The sessions took place on two afternoons a week throughout August.
Free Form Project Manager, Shahed Ahmed, said: “Through this scheme we would like young people to use, relate to and learn to value our green space.”
The workshops also featured botanical T-shirt decoration taught by participants of the Hackney Youth Print Project (HYPP) – a scheme that trains local young people to find a route into the printmaking and fashion industries.
For more info about HYPP, email: joel@freeform.org.uk.
Registering surprise
It pays to vote – at least it did for 10 lucky residents who returned their registration forms.
Council Chief Executive and Electoral Registration Officer Tim Shields pressed the button on a computer keyboard to randomly select the winners of £100 of vouchers from a list of returned voter registration forms.
The winners are F Crampin, J Compton, A Synnott, P C Morris, R F Abbott, M Moyes, C Budu, L Newby, D L Fuss, and D Bulbul.
Electoral Services will be in touch with the winners soon.
If you still haven’t returned your voter registration form, then a reminder will be sent to you within the next two weeks. Visit the Annual Canvass page for more details.
New outlook on square
The once derelict Salvation Army building at 280 Mare Street has been given a much-needed facelift, thanks to the Council.
Built in 1910, 280 Mare Street is significant in the historical legacy of the Salvation Army. In 1913, it became the headquarters for women’s social and slum work, rescue homes and children’s aid, then women’s social work in the 1960s.
The facade has been carefully cleaned and restored, with all the windows and roof replaced. It now sits proudly alongside its stunning contemporary, the Hackney Empire, and completes the restoration of Town Hall Square.
In the swim
Inspired by the Olympics and looking for a career in sport?
Hackney residents can train for free to become professional lifeguards.
GLL, the not-for-profit trust that manages the borough’s leisure centres, operates subsidised training schemes that lead to nationally recognised leisure qualifications in lifeguarding, customer service and first aid.
The scheme is aimed at unemployed adults, aged 16 and over, who are interested in a career in one of Britain’s fastest growing industries. GLL also operates a 15-week apprenticeship programme, that enables participants to gain casual employment from day one. Successful apprentices are then offered a full-time contract with day release to London Leisure College to gain a further qualification.
Metin Louden, 22, benefited from the scheme. He said: “I got a job after being out of work for six months. I was then transferred to London Fields Lido, to gain further experience.
My hard work paid off as I was awarded a promotion to Senior Recreation Assistant at Clissold Leisure Centre, where I now manage 27 other lifeguards.”
For more info call GLLRecruit on: 020 8317 5000; or email: recruitment@gll.org.
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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