79-year-old benefit fraudster jailed in Liverpool

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-33822169

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A 79-year-old man who used the identities of his dead brother and school friends to claim about £200,000 of public money has been jailed.

A Liverpool Crown Court judge said Carl Jones, from Grange Terrace, Wavertree, was a "dyed-in-the-wool fraudster".

Jones was jailed for 28 months after he admitted 17 offences, including theft and fraud, to claim housing benefit, council tax and pension credit.

The court heard he embezzled £201,771.54 during a 13-year period.

Passport for dead brother

Jones used the identities of his younger brother Roy and former school friends Brian Abram and Charles Jones.

The deception dated back to 2002, the court heard.

A passport in the name of his brother Roy, who died in 1967, was issued in 2006.

It had a declaration that Roy had been living in Santander, Spain, for the previous 22 years to explain why there was no record of him in the UK.

Long criminal record

Pamela Jain, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "These actions were cold and calculated. Carl Jones used the identity of his dead brother to claim benefits he was not entitled to."

Jones had a criminal record dating back to 1952 with convictions for dishonesty, and was jailed for three years in the 1980s for drugs trafficking, the court heard.

His defence said he showed genuine remorse and had not lived a lavish lifestyle as the money was given to his children.

Recorder Simon Medlands QC told Jones that he was a "determined and sophisticated" criminal who was "as greedy as you are dishonest".