Court hearing

[grace sherlyn]

just need an advice my husband received a letter of benefit fraud.because of honest mistake to claim benefit and provide information that i am there in england,but im still in cyprus,but he applied without me being thre yet as i am still processing my visa to go and join him thre,he did nt realize that its a mistake of applying benefits and providing information that i am thre with him as he expected that i wil be thre by august this year.ita an honest mistake and he regret of doing that.they sent him a letter o go to court.does he really need to go to court without proper investigation.?if so what is he facing regarding this offence,its his first offence and did not receive any single amount from the government yet as he jst applied aug of 2012.what are the possible decision would b made regarding ths case.is he gonna go tomprison or pay a penalty,i am pregnant and very stress about it and im not even there to support him.

i hope u advice me about this

thank you

[ErikaPNP]

Hi Grace. The timeline in your post doesn't make sense. If he only claimed in August of this year, it would be near to impossible for an investigation to have taken place, for the legal department to consider the investigative findings and to summon him to court all within the space of a month. In order to try and help you could you please answer the following questions:

 

1. What benefit did your husband claim and when?

2. What exactly does the letter say? Please type it out or scan a copy in (remove personal details)

 

We may need to ask more questions of you as we go on but for the moment, this is what we need to know.

[grace sherlyn]

hi thanks for the reply,i just found out from my husband tht he did received 80 pounds all together started aug 12,of this year.......i have done my own research about this,and i realy asked him what happened,coz he was afraid to tell me and for me nt to worry coz of being pregnant.but it stopped now.i asked him to send me a copy of that letter through my email.its benefit fraud ,but i dont knoow yet the exact details..his going to appear on court sept.26.thats why i am asking coz i myself is confused about this matter.because i know its impossible to have an investigation so quickly.i just wnt to ask if he pays back all this money,and admit his fault.is he going to pay any more penalty,or go to prison?if ever he does pay,can he travel back in cyprus because i need him here.i am alone here and i dont have anybody.

 

thank you

 

grace

[jadeybags]

Is there any possibility there could be more to it than this, for a start it would be unusual for them to prosecute someone that has only been 'overpaid' 80 pounds, apart from everything else they would be more likely to give a caution or penalty. And that would be after an IUC at least. It would cost way more than 80 pounds to take someone to court.

Just wondering....

[antone]

Is there any possibility there could be more to it than this, for a start it would be unusual for them to prosecute someone that has only been 'overpaid' 80 pounds, apart from everything else they would be more likely to give a caution or penalty. And that would be after an IUC at least. It would cost way more than 80 pounds to take someone to court.

Just wondering....

 

Agreed, there's more to this - although, of course, the OP may not know the full story. But to go from claim date on 12/08 to a court date on 26/09 would be astonishing. I'm with Erika: we need to know exactly what this letter says.

[RaeUK]

Even the Small Claims Court suggests a lead time of at least three months ...