A PHOTOGRAPHER who falsely claimed £110,000 in benefits and owed £75,000 to the taxman has been jailed.
Amin Hirani, of Filton Avenue, Daubhill, had been working as a wedding photographer for 13 years and during that time had earned almost £450,000.
But he failed to declare his income and continued to claim benefits for himself and his family.
Hirani wept in the dock at Bolton Crown Court on Friday when Recorder Howard Bentham QC described him as "wicked" and jailed him for three years. He ordered that Hirani must spend a minimum of 18 months in jail before being considered for release on licence.
The court heard he had been working as a professional photographer between 1989 and 2002 and boasted of earning between £30,000 and £50,000 a year.
Prior to his arrest in December 2002, he claimed he was unemployed and fraudulently received supplementary benefit (later known as income support), housing benefit and council tax benefit.
The court was told he earned around £438,000 during the period and owed a minimum of £75,000 to the Inland Revenue.
Sentencing him, Judge Bentham QC said: "It is one of the hallmarks of a civilised society that the poor and disadvantaged are helped from government funds.
"The only way it can operate is if people making claims are honest.
"You deliberately, persistently and wickedly took money that should have been going to the disadvantaged and the poor."
Hirani pleaded guilty in June to 14 counts of benefit fraud by falsely claiming and one count of cheating the public revenue.
Prosecutor Paul Taylor said Hirani, originally from Uganda, studied photography at college in 1979.
He specialised in weddings and used state of the art equipment including video cameras and advertised both in the Yellow Pages and the internet.
He had his own web site, a studio at home and business premises in Deane Road.
Mr Taylor said: "He catered for the top end of the market and was making a great deal of money.
"Some contracts were worth more than £1,000 and it was a very lucrative business with celebrations being held over several days.
"He drove a car with personalised registration plates.
Mr Taylor said people claimed supplementary benefit on the grounds they were available for work and had no income.
He said Hirani filled in review forms repeatedly over the years and stated he was unemployed with no income.
Following his arrest, details of bank accounts dating between 1989 and 1990 were uncovered and using them as a guide, it is estimated he earned £438,000 between 1989 and 2002.
But Mr Taylor added a significant proportion of his business was paid in cash, making it difficult to know what the true extent of his earnings was.
He added that Hirani told a freelance cameraman he was earning between £30,000 and £50,000 a year.
Ahmed Nadim, defending, said Hirani had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
He said: "Having committed serious offences over a substantial period of time, he has not sought to deny culpability and accepts that as far as his conduct is concerned, he is facing a custodial sentence."
Mr Nadim said the defendant had made an effort to repay back some of the money -- £9,000 so far.
He added that his client suffered from ill health and his condition would suffer as a result of him being sent to prison.
A confiscation of assets hearing is due to be held on November 30.
The case against Hirani was brought following an investigation by staff from the Special Compliance Office of the Inland Revenue working alongside the Department of Work and Pensions and Greater Manchester Police.
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