Three members of a family have been convicted of fraud after swindling a local authority out of £734,000 by faking a neurological condition to claim a care package for 12 years.
Husband and wife Laura and Philip Borrell - who once appeared on This Morning to discuss dementia - along with Mrs Borrell's mother, Frances Noble, conspired to commit fraud by convincing Hertfordshire County Council that Ms Noble, 66, had a brain disorder.
The trio, from the village of Weston, near Hitchin, succeeded in accessing a 'direct payments care package' worth £733,936.20 from the council between August 1, 2005 and November 30, 2018, according to The Comet.
It is believed to be one of the largest frauds ever committed against a local authority.
Husband and wife Laura and Philip Borrell - along with Mrs Borrell's mother, Frances Noble - conspired to commit fraud by convincing Hertfordshire County Council that Ms Noble, 66, had a brain disorder. Above, the couple appeared on This Morning in 2017 to discuss her own struggle with dementia
Philip and Laura Borrell (pictured in 2017) and her mother were this week convicted of fraud after swindling their local authority out of £734,000 by faking a neurological condition to claim a care package for 12 years
Care packages such as the one they received are meant for those who need assistance in paying for their own care and support services - but the Borrells and Noble kept the money for themselves.
Neighbours started to become suspicious after noticing that although Mrs Borrell did not appear to work, they saw a huge number of packages arrive at her house.
One resident told The Times: 'Delivery vans all day long... ordering lots of stuff, like money was no object.'
Another added: 'There were Amazon vans coming every single day. And then this brand new top-of-the-range Volvo arrived. You started thinking, what does he do? What does she do?'
Although the Borrells returned to the UK ten days ago before their court hearing, Frances Noble is still in Berlin, and continues to deny any wrongdoing. The pensioner (above with her daughter) said the guilty pleas were an effort to bring an end to a case they are running out of money to fight
Hertfordshire county council then began a
