Deaf Scottish Businessman Jailed For Fraud

<i><b>Deaf News: A Deaf Scottish businessman jailed for defrauding taxpayers.</b></i><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/05/deaf-scottish-businessman-jailed-for.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Deaf Scottish businessman Andrew Thomson jailed for defrauding taxpayers"><img height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QzT_tp6Sr68GkXcJrNOzJqOfeN_BAz1ppOTE0liWtuKabTjWl3C7QMX8ndKW5Et6V3NSBLYN4Ge6dH0-GMioI9Oe-2qPZzXjr6EiGKuY1u8XNCMfXo9iiz1G9T7M_h-5KGrs6xqd8WEt/s320/deaf-scottish-man-andrew-thomson.jpg" width="300" /></a>FALKIRK, UK -- Falkirk Herald‎: An award-winning <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_loss" target="_blank">Deaf</a> businessman was jailed for 20 months after admitting he used his business to defraud £80,000 from taxpayers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/andrew.thomson.334" target="_blank">Andrew Thomson</a>, who was born profoundly Deaf, was described as a “highly-culpable” fraudster by Sheriff William Gilchrist at Stirling Sheriff Court yesterday for using his company to fraudulently claim the cash.<br /><br /><br /><br />The 51-year-old admitted using Sign-now to milk a government scheme intended to help the disabled into employment and channel tens of thousands of pounds through another company for the Deaf, run by his Deaf wife, into his own pocket.<br /><br /><br /><br />He pleaded guilty to defrauding the so-called Access to Work Scheme between January and November 2011, before an anonymous tip-off alerted the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_for_Work_and_Pensions" target="_blank">Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)</a>, who investigated the claim.<br /><br /><br /><br />Defence advocate David Nicolson said it had got into financial difficulty when software designed by Thomson was mimicked by others and his clients no longer needed his services.<br /><br /><br /><br />He said since the fraud came to light Thomson had been ostracised, isolated and shunned in the Deaf world. Sign-now closed in 2012 and The Interpreting Agency went the same way.<br /><br /><br /><br />The court heard Thomson claimed he needed six hours a day of interpreting assistance and two hours a day translation to assist him with correspondence and making and taking phone calls.<br /><br /><br /><br />Freelance <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Sign_Language" target="_blank">British Sign Language</a> interpreters, charged out at £44 an hour, were employed under the Access To Work Scheme through the Interpreting Agency Ltd, run by Thomson’s wife, Caroline Thomson (52).<br /><br /><br /><br />The Interpreting Agency Ltd submitted invoices in support of Thomson’s claims which were paid by DWP into a bank account in the name of The Interpreting Agency Ltd. The court heard that Thomson himself was a signatory of this bank account.<br /><br /><br /><br />Sarah Lumsden, the depute fiscal, said there weren’t enough British Sign Language interpreters “physically available” to cover the number of hours claimed. His wife’s plea of not guilty to involvement was accepted.<br /><br /><br /><br />Mr Thomson won the Stelios Award for <a href="http://www.disabledentrepreneurs.co.uk/team_member/andrew-thomson/" target="_blank">Disabled Entrepreneurs</a> – the UK’s top accolade for disabled people - in 2008 for his work in establishing <a href="https://sign-now.com/" target="_blank">Sign-now.com</a>, providing video conferencing for the Deaf.<br /><br /><br /><br />Thomson’s company, whose clients had included the NHS, a charity for the deaf and Falkirk Council, was described as “a web-based means of enabling Deaf people to communicate with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_%28person%29" target="_blank">hearing</a> world”.<br /><br /><br /><br />He received his 2008 award from easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannau who said that Thomson had demonstrated “drive, creativity and determination”.<br /><br /><br /><br />During the DWP investigation the Thomsons’ home in New Carron, Falkirk, Sign-now’s offices in Grangemouth and the Interpreting Agency’s offices in Blythswood Square, Glasgow, were searched.<br /><br /><br /><br />Diaries and invoices were seized and the freelance British Sign Language interpreters used by the Interpreting Agency Ltd were questioned.<br /><br /><br /><br />The couple had originally been charged with a four-year scam to defraud taxpayers of nearly £250,000 by submitting bogus claims stretching back to 2008 – the year Thomson collected the Stelios Award.<br /><br /><br /><br />Jailing Thomson for 20 months, Sheriff Gilchrist referred to judges’ guidelines for dealing with welfare scams, though he said the Access to Work Scheme was actually a grant.<br /><br /><br /><br />Addressing Thomson though a sign language interpreter, he said: “If I had been applying the guidelines for benefit fraud, I would have assessed culpability here as being medium, on the basis that the claim was not fraudulent from the start, although there were elements of high culpability, in that there was an abuse of trust and responsibility and the fraud required planning and was not unsophisticated.<br /><br /><br /><br />“The amount defrauded was substantial – £80,000 – and this amount was defrauded in the context of the accused and his company already receiving generous financial support from the taxpayer.<br /><br /><br /><br />“In the circumstances I am satisfied that a custodial sentence is the only appropriate sentence.”<br /><br /><br /><br />Thomson’s Deaf wife, who like him uses signing rather than oral language, let out a guttural scream when the sentence was announced and shook her fist at the sheriff<br /><br /><br /><br />One of the couple’s two sons, who are not Deaf, banged the seats and wall of the court and shouted obscenities before being ushered out by a police officer.<br /><br /><br /><br />Thomson was then led to the cells in handcuffs.<br /><br /><br /><br />A confiscation hearing under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceeds_of_Crime_Act_2002" target="_blank">Proceeds of Crime Act</a> has been set for June 22.<br /><br /><br /><br />When collecting his £50,000 Stelios Award, Thomson said Sign-now.com was “all about gaining the confidence of our clients and the trust and support of the interpreters we employ”.<br /><br /><br /><br />The awards are a partnership between Sir Stelios’s Philanthropic Foundation and the Leonard Cheshire disability charity. <a href="http://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/crime/deaf-businessman-jailed-for-defrauding-taxpayers-1-4125344" target="_blank">SOURCE</a>.

Deaf Scottish Businessman Jailed For Fraud

Deaf News: A Deaf Scottish businessman jailed for defrauding taxpayers. FALKIRK, UK -- Falkirk Herald‎: An award-winning Deaf businessman w...

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Bullied Deaf Boy Forced To Leave School

<i><b>Deaf News: Son James was mercilessly picked on in the playground because he has a hearing impairment at mainstreaming school.</b></i><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/bullied-deaf-boy-forced-to-leave-school.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Son James Parents Chris and Samantha bullied at mainstream school"><img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12-TTIEDszUvCYee_gfVmgdCN6g2HN45QQH-VchxU7NhtQ1VHWiOb2376iZCoyTnRnQEwkp7nrLzrV5Q0_b8ijCGYUJtZceHWny8Sa6Za52KnMVHpmwh1YpTtAOiBe5W6byYE4wsRJ0AM/s320/james-chris-samantha-bullied-mainstream-school.jpg" width="300" /></a>DUNDEE, UK -- <a href="https://www.sundaypost.com/in10/health/bullied-deaf-boy-forced-to-leave-school/" target="_blank">The Sunday Post</a>: Chris said teachers did little to tackle the problem when James was subjected to name-calling by other pupils.<br /><br /><br /><br />Eventually, Chris and wife Samantha were forced to take the step of removing him from the school due to the “lack of understanding from teachers”.<br /><br /><br /><br />“People are ignorant – that’s not going to change,” said the former striker, who has tried to teach his son how to deal with the name-calling.<br /><br /><br /><br />He said: “It is wrong for children to tease and bully but it happens through school and as much as we’d like it to, it will probably never be eradicated.<br /><br /><br /><br />“I prepare James for this. What I couldn’t understand was the lack of understanding from his teachers at his previous school.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/mainstream-school-lacks-communication.html" title="Related Story">Mainstream School Lacks Communication Access</a></span></div><br /><br />“They did not know how to treat him because of his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_aid" target="_blank">hearing aids</a>.”<br /><br /><br /><br />Following abuse at the hands of other children, Chris was forced to carefully explain to James that he was happy with him just the way he his.<br /><br /><br /><br />“You find out who your friends are,” is the difficult advice he gave him.“Kids have to work things out for themselves,” he added.<br /><br /><br /><br />Since placing James in another school, he has flourished and is now an accomplished hockey player, much to his dad’s delight.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chris said: “Going to his new school totally transformed him as a person.<br /><br /><br /><br />“He was depressed and lacked self-belief and it was because of the common sense and logical understanding of the teachers at his new school that he began to build his confidence.”<br /><br /><br /><br />The now 14-year-old’s early life was beset by problems.<br /><br /><br /><br />James was born prematurely at 28 weeks in September<br /><br /><br /><br />2001 at The Queen Mother’s Hospital in Glasgow, weighing just 3lb.<br /><br /><br /><br />He was so tiny, Chris could hold him in the palm of his hand.<br /><br /><br /><br />After weeks of specialist care, he was eventually allowed to go home.<br /><br /><br /><br />However, Samantha rushed James to the former Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow 10 days later when he fell seriously ill with a respiratory virus.<br /><br /><br /><br />He was choking and having terrifying episodes where he would stop breathing.<br /><br /><br /><br />She took him to hospital but while in the waiting room he stopped breathing again.<br /><br /><br /><br />He was rushed to a side room where doctors resuscitated him. Medics said he could have died if he hadn’t got there when he did.<br /><br /><br /><br />Chris, 43, said: “My wife had this feeling and she turned round and James was going blue.<br /><br /><br /><br />“They rushed him into the hospital and he had gone. They got him back.<br /><br /><br /><br />“He was in a long time. They resuscitated him. He was a tiny baby. It was the most worrying thing that has ever happened.<br /><br /><br /><br />“Had we lived any further away we might not have got there in time. Another minute and he might not have been here. We were told that.”<br /><br /><br /><br />Doctors said James was suffering from RSV – a common virus with cold-like symptoms.<br /><br /><br /><br />Healthy children tend to shrug it off, but it can be life-threatening for premature babies.<br /><br /><br /><br />The star was in Spain at the time preparing for a crucial UEFA Cup tie with Valencia when Samantha called to say James was fighting for his life.<br /><br /><br /><br />He immediately tried to get a flight home, but couldn’t.<br /><br /><br /><br />In the end he chose not to go to the match but instead stayed at the hotel where Samantha could call to give him updates.<br /><br /><br /><br />He flew home early next day and went to the intensive care ward where he and Samantha kept a bedside vigil.<br /><br /><br /><br />The footballer said it was the most worrying time of his life.<br /><br /><br /><br />“James was on life support. It was touch-and-go,” he revealed.<br /><br /><br /><br />“You hope, you sit and pray and think about things.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.sundaypost.com/in10/health/bullied-deaf-boy-forced-to-leave-school/" target="_blank">SOURCE</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Related:</b><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/living-in-between-deaf-and-hearing.html">Living In Between The Deaf And Hearing Worlds</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2012/06/dropout-rate-among-mainstream-deaf.html">Dropout Rate Among Mainstream Deaf Students</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2012/06/voiceless.html">Deaf Awareness 'Voiceless' Short Film</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2012/05/heart-touching-story-of-deaf-girl_22.html">Deaf Girl's Bullying In Mainstream School</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2012/03/deaf-student-bullied-at-alexander.html">Deaf Student Bullied At Alexander Graham Bell School</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2011/10/mainstreaming-is-failing-deaf-students.html">Mainstream School Is Failing Deaf Students</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2015/07/petition-stop-moving-deaf-to-mainstream.html">Petition | Stop Moving Deaf To Mainstream Schools</a>

Bullied Deaf Boy Forced To Leave School

Deaf News: Son James was mercilessly picked on in the playground because he has a hearing impairment at mainstreaming school. DUNDEE, UK -- ...

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