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Pensioner arrested – after council paid her £118,000 by mistake

Tom Wilkinson
Wednesday 05 October 2011 19:00 EDT

Police arrested seven people after a council accidentally paid £118,000 into a pensioner's bank account.

South Tyneside Council tried to rectify the blunder it made while administering funds for the Tyne and Wear Pension Fund, but when it could not retrieve the cash it called in Northumbria Police. Officers arrested the 69-year-old widow, her daughter, son-in-law and two grown-up grandchildren, as well as two others in August and September last year.

While searching the home of the pensioner's daughter in Greenside, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, officers seized a quantity of cash and a car.

South Tyneside Council transferred the money into two random accounts due to "human error".

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