A mother from Croydon, an area in South London, is under investigation after it was uncovered that she forced her children to undergo gastric surgery in order for her to claim and collect disability benefits.
The mother, 43 years old, reportedly claimed that her children were suffering from serious health conditions. She did this to fool the authorities and Telegraph reported that she was able to claim almost $500,000 worth of benefits. She has been convicted of child cruelty.
The children, a son and a daughter, whose names have not been released, reportedly underwent many medical treatments that were unnecessary including operations to have a gastronomy tube fitted to their stomach. This was forced by the mother even if her children could eat in a normal manner.
Police officials claimed that the mother also presented her children to doctors saying that they suffered from autism, asthma, and urology aside from the false gastric conditions of the siblings. Authorities continued to say that the mother lied at every opportunity in order to achieve her plan. She also reportedly encouraged her son to show signs that are consisted with autism and resisted the nursery staff's attempt to toilet train the young boy.
The boy also reportedly had to take steroids that were meant to cure asthma although he did not display symptoms such as chronic wheezing. It is unclear what other treatments were done to the female child.
Det. Sgt. Stuart Parsons said in a statement, "It is staggering to think that the mother's willful actions resulted in the children undergoing unnecessary surgical and medical interventions."
It was not clear what the motive was since her partner is said to be earning almost $50,000 a year. The partner is also facing charges. There are no available details as to where the children are.
The mother was under the investigation of officers from Met's Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command. All of the charges against the mother are: two counts of obtaining money by false representation, two counts of fraud by false representation, four counts of child cruelty, and seven counts of making false representation. She was found guilty on Monday. There were a total of 114 witnesses who provided evidence to the prosecution.
She will be sentenced on August 15 but it is not clear what kind of punishment she will be facing.
