Benefit fraudster claims over £5,000 after making up 19 children and a cancer diagnosis

To ensure these claims were fraudulent, Ms Copeland had to prove whether the children existed. 

She said: “First thing I need to establish whether these children are real or not. He uses the same name a few times over different claims and the date of birth is slightly different. 

“These are: Lucy, Luke, Millie, Marcus, Mabel, Kayden, another Kayden, Imogen, Skyler, another Skyler, Kasen, Jayden, Warren, another Skyler, another Kayden, Dylan, Lucas, Lucy and Harry.”

She then went onto the disability benefit system and child benefit system, cross-referencing the children’s names and birthdates. Her results found: “I cannot find any of these children exist at all. I can also see that this claimant has no children.