This summer’s best excuses made by false benefits claimants have been publicised by the Department for Work and Pensions

Shane Knowles, a heavily tattooed convicted fraudster, said Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly were ‘money hungry’.

Facebook pictures show Melissa Reid, 20, smiling happily as she poses with heavily tattooed Shane Knowles, 37, and other friends on the Spanish holiday island.

A High Court judge in London has to decide whether 30-year-old Sarah Al Amoudi is, (pictured) as she claims, a billionaire sheik’s daughter, or a ‘fraud’.

Car showroom receptionist June Hoystead, 52, told friends she could get luxury cars for up to half price using her staff discount – but the claim was a lie.

Lorna Vickerage ran away with ‘family friend’ John Bush, 35, three days after being taken from home in Doncaster and placed in foster care by social services.

Brian Carter admitted conning more than £54,000 in false benefits over a six-year period despite his healthy bank account which he had failed to disclose to Basildon Council.

Latvian Elina Jaksone and Cypriot Gagik Manucharyan, who lived in a £365,000 detached house in Kent, put their son through one of the country’s most elite private schools on the proceeds of their scam.