Midland HMRC tax credit adviser stole £56,000... in tax credits

A ‘DESPICABLE’ Dudley fraudster who stole more than £56,000 of tax credits – while working for HMRC as a tax credit adviser – has escaped prison.

Rebecca Leigh Gray, 32, worked as a customer adviser for HM Revenue & Customs in Merry Hill for nearly eight years, advising members of the public on making their tax credit claims.

But the mother-of-four, Brookdale, Lower Gornal, about her own claims.

In total she claimed £56,344 she was not entitled to and pleaded guilty to four offences of contravening the Tax Credit Act.

She was handed a two-year prison sentence that was suspended for two years.

Gray was arrested in March 2016 and immediately suspended.

HMRC investigators discovered from lied that instead of being a single mother living at an address in Wolverhampton, as she had claimed, she had been living in Dudley with her partner between July 2014 and April 2016.

Investigators also found Gray had also overstated costs of childcare for seven years as well as under-declaring her household income and lying about the amount of maternity pay she had received, to increase her tax credit and child tax credit payments.

In sentencing her, Recorder Nicholas Syfret, QC, said: “You behaved despicably due to the length of time of the fraud, the four separate ways you conducted your crime and were in a unique position given your employment with HMRC.”

Joff Parsons, assistant director, internal governance, at HMRC, said: “Gray’s role was to advise others on claiming tax credits and safeguard taxpayers’ money. But she abused her position of trust and took full advantage of the knowledge she had gained through her job, effectively stealing from the people she was employed to help.

“She knew that she was committing fraud and when caught, would lose her job and face a criminal conviction, but continued nonetheless.

“HMRC is committed to the highest level of integrity and we take the strongest possible action against the tiny minority who let us all down by falling short of those standards. If you know of anyone committing tax fraud please call our hotline on 0800 788 887 and report it.”

Gray admitted fraudulently claiming tax credits at Walsall Magistrates Court in March 2017. She was handed the suspended prison sentence at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Confiscation proceedings to recover the proceeds of her crime will follow.