Notorious Tax Cheat Convicted Of Benefit Fraud

A notorious tax cheat, who hit the headlines for a £156,000 VAT swindle involving her "ethical" cosmetics company, was convicted today of ten counts of benefit fraud.

Monica Bircham, 47, of Abbott Court, Hartington Road, South Lambeth, was not jailed for scamming the taxman and was free to prey on her local council and illegally pocket hand-outs for two-and-a-half years.

An Inner London Crown Court jury found her guilty this afternoon of ten counts of fraud between December 9, 2010 and July 12, 2013 consisting of telling the London Borough of Lambeth she received no money from self-employment and on three occasions gave untrue information in a Self-Employed Earning Information form.

That she was a single-mother living alone; that she had no income; that she had no more income than tax credits; that she was the only adult living at her address; that she had not received full payment for part-time lecturing work and failed to disclose income.

She was convicted on a further count of dishonestly making a false representation on or about November 11, 2010 in an online application for Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit and one count of possessing an article for use in fraud on or about May 3, 2011, namely a profit and loss account for a business called Scoop SkinCare Ltd.

The new convictions put her in breach of a suspended prison sentence she received in April 2013 for the benefit offences she committed three months after get sentencing.

"The sentence the court will be considering will be custody," announced Recorder Adam Hiddleston. "She has a fifteen year-old son and tells us she is a single-mum.

"The sentence the court is thinking of will more than likely be one of custody," he added, telling Bircham directly. "A custodial sentence in your case is almost inevitable."

She was bailed until June 12 for a probation report.