A former cook has pleaded guilty and 25 others have been arrested, as the result of a public benefits fraud in which phone sex workers in Manchester and London swindled more than $1.8 million from public unemployment benefit funds.
Stephanie Nield admitted to Manchester Crown Court that she got over $36,000 in DWP benefits while working for a phone sex line, and has agreed to repay the money at almost $15 a week—which one report translated to mean it might take her 50 years to repay the full amount.
The Department of Works and Pensions told British reporters this week that women at home or in offices would supply phone sex services to clients while continuing to claim benefits, with some fitting their phones with special ring tones so they would know an incoming client, then take the call privately or be sure no one was present.
A published report said one agency providing phone sex workers was hit with 25 arrests, while other such businesses are still under investigation.
The DWP had first determined Nield had a legal claim, but she failed to tell the agency she was working again when she went to work in the phone sex industry, claiming benefits between April 2001 and February 2005 for incapacitation and housing. Her attorney told the court she never realized just how serious her offense had been.
Judge David Hernandez sentenced her only to 220 community service hours. "These offenses . . . are very often committed, but not exclusively, by women like you with no previous convictions," he was quoted as telling Nield as he sentenced her. "I take the view I can exercise leniency in this case but it is a marginal decision and on balance it seems to me a noncustodial sentence is appropriate."
