H&F Council Executive Jailed for 'Breathtaking' Benefits Fraud
Charles Hahn claimed over £22,000 and was given council house while in well paid job
The Evening Standard reports that Charles Hahn, 43, claimed more than £22,000 in handouts and was given a council house despite having a series of well-paid jobs.
The father of three worked at food manufacturer Tate & Lyle, property firm Grosvenor, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, and in 2012 became head of compliance and health and safety at Hammersmith and Fulham council.
He even established his own company — Hahn Consultant Ltd — while receiving housing benefits illegally.
He hid his career to get a one bed council home in Greenwich and failed to tell the authorities when he bought a house at Aveley in Essex in 2010.
In May 2012 he was granted a two-bed local authority home in Blackheath, despite not being entitled to handouts.
Hahn applied to purchase it, with a £100,000 discount under the right to buy scheme. However, before the deal could go through, fraud investigators began to unravel his web of lies.
Jailing him at Woolwich crown court on Tuesday, Judge Philip Shorrock told Hahn: "Your dishonesty has been breathtaking."
"Anybody looking at you in the summer of 2012 would have seen a man who was working as the head of health and safety for one of the bigger London local authorities, earning a good salary, and nobody would have guessed from your superficial appearance what a fraud you really are.
“Knowing perfectly well you were not entitled to benefits, you failed to tell the local authority of that fact for a period of years and helped yourself to over £22,000 from the taxpayer.”
While paying rent on his illegally obtained council house, Hahn bought his own home but failed to declare it.
"Because of your selfishness and dishonesty, another family was not able to occupy these premises," said the judge. "If that wasn’t crooked enough, you had the brass neck to apply to the local authority for a larger property even though you had your own home."
Mark Hunsley, defending, said Hahn suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving the Royal Navy, and had been the victim of a hate crime when he was stabbed 16 times.
He told the court Hahn lives off credit cards and has £50,000 of debts, partly because he pays for care for his disabled daughter.
Hahn, of Grove Park, pleaded guilty to four counts of dishonest representation for obtaining benefit and four counts of fraud.
December 22, 2016
