Benefit-fraud mum in UK forced kids to have surgery

A mother who lied about her children being ill, forcing them to have surgery as part of a plan to falsely claim benefits showed no remorse during her three-month trial, a judge said.

The 49-year-old, from Croydon, south London, told medical staff her children had asthma, autism and other health problems, meaning they were given drugs they did not need and went through invasive treatment including having tubes fitted in their stomachs.

The woman’s lies, which spanned a decade, allowed her to claim more than £375,000 in benefits, before she was arrested by police in 2013.

Following a three-year investigation the woman, who cannot be named to protect her children’s identity, was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail.

She was convicted last month of cruelty, fraud, making a false representation and obtaining money transfer by deception.

Addressing the woman at Croydon Crown Court, Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Smaller said: “I note that you have appeared to be very sad at times during this trial - but, watching you as I have for three months in court, in my view, it cannot be said to amount to remorse for what you did.”

Judge Smaller said the mother, despite being made aware of all the risks of surgery, had signed the consent forms to ensure it went ahead, and noted that she had not been “filled with the disquiet that most parents would” have at the thought of their child undergoing such an operation.

The children, a young boy and girl, had surgery to fit them with gastrostomy tubes for feeding, despite being able to eat normally, after the woman lied to authorities to say they had stomach problems.

Her son was given steroids after she claimed he suffered breathlessness, and he was told to behave as though he had autism.

In what the judge described as an “embarrassing” episode for him, he was also kept in nappies until he was taken into care aged seven-and-a-half.

The woman was determined to find another problem when it looked as though others she had created were resolved, the judge said.

At the time of her conviction, the Metropolitan Police, which led the complex investigation, involving 114 witnesses for the prosecution, described the woman’s behaviour as “staggering”.