A Shepherd’s Bush hairdresser who made fraudulent housing benefit claims over 19 years has been jailed for a year and will have to pay back £360,000. Matilda Kwapong claimed she had been evicted from the home she bought in Ealing in 1988, and in 1990 was given a two-bedroom council flat which she then rented out to help repay her mortgage. She also claimed housing benefit and council tax discounts, despite running a successful hairdressing salon in the railway arches at Shepherd’s Bush Market. Kwapong was only discovered when one of her tenants also tried to claim housing benefit last…
Equality Act 2010 Brings in new rights for employees, namely disability discrimination rights, and rights for people who are discriminated against indirectly, such as carers who look after elderly parents or who are affected by bullying at work. Allowing offensive jokes about disability, sex and gender reassignment at work or criticising dyslexics will leave employers facing substantial claims. The old discrimination legislation protected employees who are discriminated against on the ground of a protected characteristic, including sex, disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age, the level of protection available varied. The new law introduces much wider protection for…
A traveller who financed his children’s private education using £31,000 obtained in a benefits fraud was jailed for 18 months yesterday. Matthew Newland, 41, from Lyne, near Chertsey, Surrey, drove a BMW car and paid £10,000 a year for his daughter to attend a prep school and £7,000 a year to educate his two sons, a jury at Guildford Crown Court was told. Newland claimed incapacity benefit, disability allowance, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support, despite earning nearly £90,000 a year as a roofer while living in a static caravan owned by his mother-in-law. Newland admitted five charges…
Asked by Channel 4 News to comment, leading motoring expert lawyer Rodney Hylton-Potts said: “At issue is whether a celebrity status should be relevant to sentencing. The story starts back in 1967 when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, were jailed for 3 months for minor drug offences. A famous Times leader referring to ‘Breaking a butterfly on a wheel’ was believed to be very influential in persuading the Court of Appeal to overturn the sentences, and release them. Judges, a magistrate, however are human, as they should be, and their deliberations are in private. There can…
HM Revenue and Customs have made mistakes in codes resulting in unwelcome tax demands, and interest is being claimed. What sounds unfair usually is. Contact the experts – For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or [email protected].
New EU procedure will give choice to international couples over which country’s law will govern their divorce. Selena Masson speaks to Rodney Hylton-Potts, a leading expert on international divorce, practice and procedure of Hylton-Potts Legal Consultants, about the use of this procedure. EU member states are using a new enhanced co-operation procedure to introduce new rules allowing international divorcing couples to select which country’s law will apply to their divorce. Rodney Hylton-Potts says: “For the first time in EU history, member states are using the enhanced co-operation procedure, to push forward with rules allowing international divorcing couples to choose which…
A schoolboy who was ordered by the High Court to live with his “wholly deserving” father has been allowed to stay with his mother at the end of an 11-year legal battle. The father left the hearing in tears, after a judge ruled that to protect the mental health of the 12-year-old boy, who has said that he hates his father, it would not enforce its original decision to remove him from his mother. The ruling brings to an end one of the longest contact disputes ever seen in an English court. Judge Clifford Bellamy, sitting as a deputy judge…
If you are worried that you have broken the rules, and want to stop a criminal prosecution or record consult the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email [email protected].
It is not if but when. They are coming to get you. Credit agencies are used by banks, credit card firms and others to identify whether individuals have a bad credit history. Under the Government plans, the agencies will effectively be carrying out the process in reverse. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has been told to draw up detailed plans for a benefits crackdown. WHO’S WATCHING YOU? Credit check: Agencies hold details Credit reference agencies have a powerful role in determining who is granted mortgages, loans and credit cards. The three agencies, Experian, Equifax and Call-Credit, hold a…
We have all been angry and frustrated when a utility, or energy company, like British Gas is incompetent and you lose out, but now you can bring a claim. If your time is wasted e.g. you are self employed, and you have lost time and money, due to problems take them to court. Log every phone call, letter and time off work. We at Hylton-Potts can send you a spreadsheet free of charge if you e-mail us. Companies should realise that their customers’ time is just as valuable as their own. If you want compensation contact the experts – For…
