Court orders sale of Hove benefits cheat’s home

A benefit fraudster from Hove must repay the money he made from the proceeds of selling his home.

Julian Seamer, 57, and his wife Catherine Beaumont, 53, fraudulently claimed £56,000 while living in Newtown Road, Hove, from 1999 to 2008.

Beaumont said that she was a single parent and that Seamer was her landlord.

The couple, who moved to Church Road, Lydgate, Todmorden, Lancashire, were both given a suspended prison sentence in April 2010 after they admitted making false statements.

In September 2010 an order under the Proceeds of Crime Act was made to repay the money to Brighton and Hove City Council.

They were also ordered to hand over a further £80,000 from the profits that they had made from the house that they had bought with their fraudulent claims.

Last week the High Court was told that Seamer had put the house up for sale at an inflated price and that it had failed to sell.

A judge agreed that Seamer had obstructed the sale and ordered the confiscation of the property. He appointed James Earp, of the accountancy Grant Thornton, as receiver to handle the sale and the repayments from the proceeds.

The council expects to receive £91,000 in all which it said would help fund the fight against benefit fraud.

The council added that fraud had come to light after a tip-off from a member of the public.