Council stops
electoral registration fraud
A former council housing officer
was given 100 hours Community Punishment Order for electoral fraud
at Snaresbrook Crown Court today (March 29).
Marsha Thompson, 24, of St John's Road, Canning Town,
pleaded guilty to 19 counts of using a false instrument contrary to
the 1981 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act and one count of false
accounting contrary to the 1968 Theft Act.
Thompson was employed as a case officer for Newham Council's
Homeless Persons Unit.
In October 2004, she undertook a part-time job with the council's
electoral services department on the annual election canvass.
This involved delivering annual electoral registration forms to
specific areas in the borough.
She was paid a set rate for the delivery of addresses and for
visiting households from which forms had not been returned.
In November 2004, Thompson submitted annual electoral registration
forms for more than 100 different addresses, which, according to
the electoral services department, appeared to contain
discrepancies.
The matter was referred to the council's internal audit counter
fraud team, who began an investigation, which involved interviewing
residents and taking statements.
Thompson was interviewed by counter fraud staff where she admitted
she had completed some of the forms herself, where she had not
received a reply, including forging signatures. She also said she
had expected to be paid for the work.
Marianne Wood, chief internal auditor, said: "We managed to stop
what could have been an extremely serious situation involving
potentially false information getting onto the electoral
register.
"This is the first fraud prosecution of the council's own staff
following a high-profile local publicity campaign.
"We take fraud extremely seriously and will not hesitate to
prosecute anyone who defrauds the council."