But my already quivering dander was raised to breaking point when I read the smug and complacent pronouncement of Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Minister:
"Building on our success in preventing £18bn going into the wrong hands in 2022/23, these convictions underline our commitment to protecting taxpayers' money. It is only right and fair that we bring those stealing from the public purse to justice."
So why is the system for which he's responsible so utterly useless that it allowed these thieves to steal £50m so incredibly easily? I would guarantee that for every one who gets caught there are a hundred more who don't.
I often despair at the ridiculous mazes that my clients are forced to navigate in order to satisfy third parties of our identity, not just once, but time after time after time, whenever they want to enter into a new transaction, yet people like this just drive a coach and horses through the system.
Although I've always opposed the idea of compulsory ID cards I've gradually been coming round to the idea that they might be a good thing after all, not just to help combat fraud, but to enable us to establish our bona fides without all the absurd rigmarole that applies at present.
And as these fraudsters will now presumably steal even more cash from us in the form of paying for their custody for (hopefully) the next few years that raises another point - why should physically healthy individuals like this not be made to fill potholes? As nobody else is doing the repairs it's not like they'd be stealing someone's job. And it'd be jolly useful work, well within their capabilities, and far better for both them and us than locking them up in a jail cell.
Time for a little lie down!