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Four Czech citizens imprisoned for welfare fraud in Britain

06 November 2013
1 minute read

The Nottingham Post has reported in its online edition that a court in that northern English town sentenced four members of a family from the Czech Republic yesterday to between two and five years in prison for systematically abusing the British welfare system and defrauding it of GBP 750 000. One of the family members received a suspended sentence.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a fifth family member who is also charged in the case and is fleeing justice. The three men and two women, aged between 32 and 39, were involved in organizing the travel of Czech and Slovak citizens to Britain. 

The family provided short-term accommodations to the Czech and Slovak immigrants and helped them get either fictional or temporary jobs so they could apply for local insurance, then opened bank accounts for them. Once the family had successfully applied for welfare in the immigrants’ names, they would send them back home.  

Judge James Sampson said the family frequently exploited "vulnerable" individuals for the scheme. The court has recommended the family members be deported after they have served half of their prison time.

The five family members fraudulently took in about GBP 33 000 per month. They spent some of the money on expensive cars and in casinos in Bradford, Leicester, Newcastle and Nottingham.

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