This is Amanda Hyett. She is accused of defrauding the Dept of Work and Pensions and her local council of £35,885.27 in Income Support, Council Tax and Housing Benefit.
Before I go any further it is probably right to mention that Ms Hyett is the sister of the Karen Matthew’s ex-lover. (You may remember that Karen Matthews hatched a plot to raise money by arranging for her daughter to be kidnapped.) However Ms Hyett was not involved in, or certainly was not charged with, any part in that crime.
Right, so I’m pretty certain we could all agree that the whole lot of them are thoroughly unpleasant people, but what the rest of her family has been up to has, or should have, no connection to her own crimes.
Simply, she has stolen the sum of £35,885.27 from us. She has been released on bail while pre-sentence reports are prepared but the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier, warned her that the fact that she is on bail should not be considered to be any indication that she will not receive a custodial sentence.
Now compare her situation with that of Jacqui Smith, ex Home Secretary, who, by her own admission should not have claimed her housing benefit to the tune of £116,000. Hyatt’s theft is rather small beer in comparison. However Smith got away with standing up in parliament and apologising to her fellow MPs, many of them in the same situation as she is. Consider also the case of the ex-Minister in the Department of Work and Pensions who claimed, albeit a lesser sum, for his parents’ house. He, too, only had to make a grovelling apology and repay the sum of £13,837.
Can anyone suggest a reason for the difference in the treatment of these people?
Amanda Hyett was in a criminal court Jacqui Smith was in the houses of parliament.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should report Jacqui Smith to the police with a view to a Criminal Charge.
But failing that with out a charge or a criminal trial and finding of Guilty what do you expect ?
Nikio:
ReplyDeleteI didn't think that someone who had admitted defrauding the government out of Housing Benefit, after having been outed by Mr Legge, would require the likes of me to inform the police of their guilt.
Perhaps the police whould be a little more pro-active?
Surely you're not supporting Smith's or McNulty's behavour Niko?
What do you expect - justice? The Northwest Region of the EU - formerly the UK - is a backwater banana region (can't call it a republic 'cause it's not) run by a cartel of crooks.
ReplyDeleteNo Scunnert, to be honest I didn't expect justice. But I think it's right to highlight this every time it comes up. Not that I have a huge readership, but every little helps.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the least sympathy with this greedy woman or anyone else like her. I just don't see why she shouldn't be treated the same as Mrs Smith or Mr McNulty, or any of the other two bit low life that populate the House of Commons.
Perhaps she could make a visit to the House and make a grovelling apology, then her friends could take her for tea in the tea room....
You keep exposing these people Tris. There are far too many getting away with this kind of thing and not enough people, from the public services, to detect them.
ReplyDeleteYes Subrosa, it may seem like I have a kind of a bee in my bonnet about this, but it just makes me angry that it is so blatently unfair that there is one set of treatment for one set of thieves and another set of treatment for another set.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazed me, given the potential high profile of this case, was that I didn't see anything in the nationals.