Lottery winner cheats taxpayers out of almost £80k

Lottery winners don’t usually require the services of benefit fraud solicitors, but that’s exactly what happened when a lottery winner who managed to win the jackpot of almost £2 million pleaded guilty to cheating taxpayers out of almost £80,000. Patrick Ronan failed to declare his win, meaning he received just shy of £80,000 in pension credits paid by the taxpayer. The Southport man received the huge overpayment simply because he neglected to inform the relevant authorities and collected his pension credits despite scooping £1.9 million.

The Southport man, who is now 74 and suffering from cancer, won the jackpot on the National Lottery but still applied for a pension credit back in March 2005. That application resulted in Ronan receiving an overpayment of £79,803. Unfortunately for Ronan, he is legally required to let the authorities know of any income or savings of £16,000 or more. Those in attendance at Liverpool Crown Court heard that Ronan skirted the truth by not mentioning his windfall on his application, despite exceeding the £16,000 limit by well over £1.8 million.

The overpayment, which came in instalments, was continually pocketed by Patrick Ronan between the 21st of March in 2005 and February 21st, 2016. With evidence stacked against Ronan, the pensioner admitted that he made a ‘dishonest representation’ when it came to obtaining benefit payments.

Despite the admittance, his defence lawyer Geoffrey Lowe stated that the case did involve some circumstances which he described as ‘somewhat unusual’. Lowe went on to say that, despite his lottery win, Ronan’s quality of life had not improved because his client has been battling cancer since. Using a report as evidence, along with the physical appearance of Ronan, Geoffrey Lowe argued that it was ‘clear’ that Ronan has been ‘very seriously ill’. Ronan’s cancer resulted in a ‘drastic operation’ which altered the appearance of his face. The defence continued their case by pointing out the evidence ‘on Mr Ronan’s face’ where it’s clear that part of the defendant’s jaw has been removed.

Continuing to address the court on the circumstances surrounding Ronan’s illness, Geoffrey Lowe argued that Ronan was totally reliant on being ‘fed by a tube’ because the illness or the treatment required has resulted in a loss of capacity for Patrick Ronan. Although no doctors were present in the court, Lowe did state that Ronan had been booked in for a full MRI scan after the conclusion of a routine check-up. The scan then revealed something which supposedly merited ‘further investigation’.

Those in attendance at court did not find out the true state of Ronan’s illness, as the defence argued that ‘today would have been the date’ that the defendant would have a consultation with the doctors to address any findings the scan produced. The findings of the scan were also not made available to the consultant oncologist according to Lowe. With the defence going to great lengths to outline Patrick Ronan’s health situation, they summarised by saying the findings of Ronan’s scan could potentially have a ‘significant impact’ on the sentence Ronan receives, arguing for an adjournment. That ‘significant impact’ could mean if the findings are that Ronan’s health has deteriorated, that Ronan will receive a reduced sentence for claiming pension credits despite winning the lottery.

Finally, Lowe said that they hoped to be in a position to present the full results of the scan, along with the accompanying medical report to the court by the end of May. After listening to all of Lowe’s arguments, the judge, Recorder Rowena Goode, eventually agreed with the defence, stating that the sentencing would be adjourned until the 16th of June. In the meantime, Patrick Ronan has been remanded on unconditional bail as he awaits his sentence.