A benefits fraudster who conned taxpayers out of £40,000 has enjoyed spa trips and Spanish holidays – while still receiving Universal Credit.
Clive Miller, from Enniskillen, is still receiving over £2,000 a month in Universal Credit, personal independence payments, and his Army pension, while owning two homes.
These payments have continued even after he was convicted in 2016 for benefits fraud and received a suspended sentence.
He was also ordered to pay back the £40,000 at a rate of just £1 per week, giving him 770 years to pay back the money.
The 57-year-old fleeced the benefits system despite having over £280,000 sitting in two separate bank accounts, and owning an apartment and pub in Spanish hotspot Alicante.
A decade after his sentencing for four charges of failing to declare a change of circumstances to Northern Ireland’s Social Security Agency, he still is regularly visiting Alicante – as well as the spa at Killyhevlin Hotel near his Enniskillen home.
Sunday Life confirmed that his current home is listed as belonging to his parents, while the property next door, lived in by his son, is owned by him.
He is currently listed at the benefits office as having “no work-related requirements”, a status for those unable to work due to health, disability, or caring responsibility.
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Locals in Enniskllien have claimed Miller is “unashamed” by his conviction.
Meanwhile, images from his family’s social media accounts regularly show him lounging poolside in Alicante and enjoying nights out.
Sources within the Department for Communities have questioned how civil servants handled his case – and his repayment rate.
An insider told the Belfast Telegraph that when Miller migrated to Universal Credit in 2024, he would have been obliged to declare all the money in his bank accounts and any ownerships of second property.
MORE BENEFITS FRAUDSTERS:
Clive Miller took conned taxpayers out of £40,000 and is still claiming universal credit
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These rules are put in place to prevent people with more than £16,000 in their bank from receiving Universal Credit.
But this can be waived if given a compensation claim payment.
The DUP’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said he planned to crack down on benefit fraudsters earlier this month.
Mr Lyons said: “At this time of significant budget constraint, we must be united i ensuring that public money is directed to our key services, to help families in financial distress, to the homeless, to those who are sick and to educate our young people. Not to criminals.”
He also has reintroduced the practice of naming those who are convicted of benefits fraud.
Alicante, Spain, where Clive Miller owns a property and regularly visits
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Northern Ireland Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said he plans to crack down on benefit fraudster
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Fraudsters are now named on the Department for Communities website for the
Despite his current holidays, it was said Miller did not enjoy a “champagne or extravagant lifestyle” during his 2016 sentencing.
His lawyer told the court how he had a severe degenerative back injury after he fell from a hydraulic lift, and sought help for alcohol and gambling addictions.