{"id":1050,"date":"2008-03-10T07:44:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-10T07:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onlinefocus.org\/?p=1050"},"modified":"2008-03-10T07:47:50","modified_gmt":"2008-03-10T07:47:50","slug":"two-depressing-crime-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onlinefocus.org\/two-depressing-crime-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Depressing Crime Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

First of all, the Echo reports that two ex-councillors next door in Castle Point have been jailed for 28 days each<\/a> for benefit fraud:<\/p>\n

…..An unimpressed District Judge David Cooper said the Meagers were “swindling their own council”.<\/p>\n

He said: “It’s imposssible to accept that this was some temporary oversight.<\/p>\n

“You both have shown a cynical and really breathtaking dishonesty and greed over many years. This is aggravated by the fact you were both councillors and I think the public will be affronted if an immediate custodial sentence was not passed.”<\/p>\n

All the money has been repaid to the council, but the couple must now pay court costs of ?2,661 each or serve an extra two weeks in prison.<\/p>\n

Mr and Mrs Meager, who resigned as Tory St Mary’s ward councillors in November last year, hung their heads as they were handcuffed and led down to the cells…..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Mirror <\/a>covers the story as well:<\/p>\n

Two Tory councillors were jailed yesterday for swindling their own council in a benefits scam.<\/p>\n

Alan, 49, and Kate Meager, 55, had their own business, a US holiday home, and a rented-out flat but claimed ?3,400 in council tax benefits.<\/p>\n

Judge David Cooper at Chelmsford magistrates court in Essex jailed the couple for 28 days.<\/p>\n

He said: “You have both shown cynical and breathtaking dishonesty and greed over many years.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Meager, of Benfleet, Essex, said she was a single parent and didn’t tell Castle Point council she got tax credits.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile in Rayleigh, a depressing Echo news story from Hambro Hill:<\/a><\/p>\n

YOBS armed with bricks, wood and lumps of concrete caused tens of thousands of pounds’ damage to 12 new vans parked in a compound.<\/p>\n

The vandals threw lumps of heavy masonry, wood and bricks over the fence of the car compound in Hambro Hill, Rayleigh, which is owned by the Essex Autogroup.<\/p>\n

The attack left ten Ford Transit vans and two Ford Tourneo vans with dented bodywork, smashed windscreens, broken bumpers, smashed headlights and trashed wheel-trims.<\/p>\n

It is possible some of the vans have been damaged so badly they cannot be sold to the public and will be written off . The company faces a bill of up to ?260,000 for the damage….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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