£10,000 benefit fraud mother sent to prison

A BENEFIT thief from Bridgwater was jailed after fiddling the system for around £10,000.

Kay Duke, a 30-year-old mother-of-one, was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment by Bridgwater magistrates after pleading guilty to charges in relation to benefit fraud.

Magistrates commented how serious the matter was while sentencing her, and she was immediately sent to prison.

A council spokesman said: "We treat the matter of benefit fraud very seriously, as do our colleagues from the Department for Work and Pensions.

"We will continue working together to bring such cases before the courts and people willing to commit benefit fraud must realise, when they are caught, they may well be facing time in prison."

Duke, of Friarn Avenue, went before the court after a Sedgemoor District Council and Department of Work and Pensions joint investigation into the offender's benefit claims after a match of information with a local employment agency.

This revealed a link to an undeclared partner who had been resident and working full-time while she was claiming benefits as a lone parent.

During initial interview, the claimant confirmed the relationship with her partner but denied he was living at her address.

Further investigation including interviewing the partner under caution, an approach to his employer and obtaining witness statements revealed enough evidence for all benefits to be removed for a period of 18 months.

The overpaid benefits exceeded £9,500 and a prosecution case was presented on behalf of both agencies by Sedgemoor District Council's legal services department.

She spent the weekend in jail but an appeal against the sentence was lodged and Duke was released on bail.

The hearing took place on July 2, where the judge allowed the appeal but stated cheating the benefits system was unacceptable and puts other genuine benefit claimants at a disadvantage.

He added that benefit cheats must understand the ultimate penalty is custody and that having experienced a weekend in prison the offender should have been taught a lesson in this case.

The custody order was replaced with a two-year community order with supervision, education, training and employment conditions covering 30 days.

In addition, a compensation order was made requiring the offender to repay the stolen benefits at £100 per month.