‘She deliberately planned to defraud taxpayers of close on £200,000, depriving those in real need of support while living an extravagant lifestyle. Brent Council will not stop in its pursuit of benefit thieves so those claiming fraudulently should beware.’ Councillor Ruth Moher of Brent Council
A Brazilian conwoman pocketed £190,000 in benefits by claiming she had 12 children – despite only one of them having ever lived in the UK.
Fabiola Peixe Dantas, 49, was jailed for more than two years after an investigation by Brent Council found that she only had four children.
Harrow Crown Court heard how she received £191,871 in housing and council tax benefits over a 12-year period from 1999 until 2011.
Fabiola Peixe Dantas was jailed at Harrow Crown Court for more than two years
Dantas claimed to be a single mother with 12 children, in reality splashing the cash on luxury holidays to Egypt, Paris and Amsterdam and a £40,000 Mercedes.
The court heard that Dantas, who was living in a four-bed home in Harlesden, north-west London, posed as single parent and said she was working as a cleaner to fiddle the benefits system, but was caught out on December 15 last year.
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