Essex couple jailed for £630k benefit and tax fraud while building property empire

Steve and Kim Benstock swindled £630k from DWP and HMRC while amassing rental properties and holidaying in the Caribbean. He received five years; she a suspended sentence.

Essex pair sentenced after £630k fraud funded holidays and rental portfolio

A married couple from Essex built up a "Monopoly"-style property portfolio and funded luxury holidays by swindling £630,000 through benefit and tax fraud, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. Daily Express reports that Steve Benstock, 62, and Kim Benstock, 69, were sentenced on Tuesday, 2 June, following a joint investigation by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Steve Benstock was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of 12 counts, including obtaining a money transfer by deception, fraud offences, dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances, and cheating the public revenue. Kim Benstock received a nine-month sentence, suspended for one year, after being found guilty of six counts relating to housing benefit, council tax benefit and capital gains tax evasion across two properties.

Fake names and sham tenancy agreements

The court heard the couple claimed means-tested benefits they were not entitled to from July 2002 to July 2019. Steve Benstock led what the court described as a "double life", using false names to conceal his wealth and construct sham tenancy agreements.

He opened bank accounts and obtained a driving licence under the name "Steve Twinley", and told the DWP that a "Steve Cash" was living at and paying the mortgage on one of his properties. Between May 2004 and January 2020, while working as a bar manager, he also failed to pay income tax and National Insurance contributions, defrauding HMRC.

In October 2008, Benstock told housing officers at Newham Council the couple had "no money in any bank accounts" in order to claim housing benefit, and claimed he paid £1,000 a month in rent — despite holding more than £32,000 in a joint account and assets worth over £400,000. In July 2012, the pair also made fraudulent housing benefit and council tax support claims to Epping Forest District Council, despite having an interest in three properties at the time.

Portfolio 'reminiscent of Monopoly'

Prosecutor Alex Davidson told the court the Benstocks had accumulated an "impressive" collection of properties, "reminiscent of the board game Monopoly", generating rental income throughout the period. The couple held assets worth up to half a million pounds, yet failed to declare the sale of three homes in east London and Romford to HMRC.

The ill-gotten gains also funded a "somewhat lavish lifestyle", the court was told, including trips to Thailand and the Caribbean and the purchase of a holiday home in Fuerteventura, Spain.

In total, Steve Benstock committed £253,713.18 in benefit fraud, rising to £539,691.10 when tax fraud was included. Kim Benstock's benefit fraud amounted to £61,933.08, with total gains of £88,340.08 once the tax offences were added.

Mitigation and prior convictions

Defence barrister Stephen Cooke, mitigating for Steve Benstock, acknowledged his client was "not a man of good character", noting three non-violent convictions from the 1980s and 1990s — including attempted theft in 1982 and attempting to obtain property by deception in 1991. Cooke argued his client should avoid immediate custody on the grounds that he fulfils a "daily, almost 24-hour a day caring role" for his wife, who lives with rheumatoid arthritis and receives round-the-clock assistance. Cooke added that Benstock had "extremely belatedly" begun to show "some acceptance and expression of remorse", including breaking down in tears over the impact of the proceedings on his wife. The court heard Kim Benstock was lawfully in receipt of disability living allowance.

Mitigating for Kim Benstock, defence barrister Katherine Lloyd said her role was "limited" to signing two forms to claim housing benefits, and that the entire court process had been a "sobering experience" which had left her "deeply mortified". The court also heard she received a police caution in 2015 for two offences of theft from a shop on the same day.

Judge: 'Greed on both your parts'

Sentencing the couple, Judge Franklin noted that none of the money from the offences had ever been recovered. "From July 2002 to July 2019, you both received state benefits after obtaining them dishonestly," he said. "This money was set aside to help the most vulnerable in society, and it was greed on both your parts that led you to divert these funds."

The judge said he accepted that the custodial sentence would leave Steve Benstock concerned for his wife's welfare.

Andrew Western, the Work and Pensions Minister for Transformation, responded to the sentencing: "This is a stark example of the kind of brazen fraud that this Government is determined to root out. While the Benstocks were acting like Monopoly tycoons — collecting rental income from the comfort of lavish properties with outdoor pools — they were helping themselves to benefits they had absolutely no right to. The game is now up, and this case should be a warning to others that the DWP is ramping up its efforts, working closely with partner agencies like HMRC, to identify and prosecute fraudsters."

Source: Daily Express