Benefits fraud mum sentenced
A Newmarket mother fraudulently claimed more than £8,000 in housing and council tax benefits, a court heard.
Fiona Cooper, of Brickfields Avenue, was sentenced at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after receiving the handouts over an 18-month period while in paid work.
Lauren Bond, prosecuting on behalf of Forest Heath District Council, said the 45-year-old mental health worker submitted a legitimate claim for benefits on January 25, 2011, on the basis she was employed but not working due to illness and was receiving statutory sick pay.
But when the council contacted her employer in June last year, they discovered she began working again part time in March 2011 and resumed full time employment in June 2011 without the authority knowing.
During that time, she received £6,978 in housing benefit and £1,290.44 in council tax benefit – a total of £8,269.13.
Cooper pleaded guilty to failing to promptly notify the council of a change in her circumstances at an earlier hearing.
Michael Whatley, mitigating, said his client was “genuinely remorseful and ashamed” and had already started paying the money back.
Magistrate Muriel Lawrence ordered Cooper to pay £500 in court costs, carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and made her the subject of a year-long supervision order.
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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