£375K BENEFITS MUM MADE KIDS HAVE OPS
Woman lied for handouts
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A MUM tricked surgeons into performing operations on her healthy children so she could swindle £375,000 in benefits.
The 48-year-old insisted her son and daughter suffered from a range of conditions, including severe asthma, autism, urology problems and gastric complications.
As a result they were given unnecessary medication and treatment.
Both children were tube-fed even though they could eat normally.
The boy was given steroids after his mum insisted he was asthmatic, even though doctors could find no signs that he was suffering from the condition.
Suspicious
The mum also encouraged the boy to pretend he had autism and stopped his nursery from toilet-training him.
She pocketed £375,000 in handouts over 10 years – swindling £87,500 in Disability Living Allowance as well as falsely claiming Income Support as a lone parent when she was living with her partner.
Child protection officers grew suspicious after none of the alleged ailments materialised at school.
During a raid at her home, detectives discovered unused prescribed medication and equipment worth £146,000.
The mum was convicted of four charges of child cruelty, two counts of obtaining money by deception, seven of making false representations and two fraud allegations after a trial at Croydon Crown Court. She will be sentenced on August 15. Det Sgt Stuart Parsons said: “It is staggering to think that the mother’s wilful actions resulted in the children undergoing unnecessary surgical and medical interventions.
“She fabricated her children’s conditions for personal financial gain.”