Benefits cheat is ordered to spend 40 years repaying the £22,000 in income support she fraudulently claimed
- Linda Pope, 60, accrued the money over a period of six years and six months
- She told the authorities she had £50 in a bank account but had a £19,000 ISA
- Pope pleaded guilty to false representation to obtain benefits and two counts of fraud at Manchester Crown Court
- She was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years
Linda Pope, 60, told the authorities she had £50 in a bank account and was later found to have been overpaid by more than £22,000 in benefits
A benefit cheat who told the authorities she had £50 in a bank account was later found to have been overpaid by more than £22,000 in benefits, a court heard.
Linda Pope, 60, received a total of £22,345.16 more than she should have done, because she failed to declare savings which she had accrued.
Pope, from Eccles, Greater Manchester, had received employment support allowance, formerly known as income support, since May 1998.
She was also in receipt of housing benefit and council tax benefit since October 2006, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Prosecutors said that she had a duty to notify the authorities of any change in her circumstances which would affect her entitlement to benefits.
Pope failed to tell them that she had an ISA that prosecutors said was worth about £19,000 at the time
She also had deposited sums of £2,000 and £1,000 into two separate bank accounts.
In a phone call with the authorities, Pope told them that she only had a single Natwest account with £50 in it.
She later received more than £26,000 in probate and withdrew £20,000 of it in cash.
Pope was arrested and accepted failing to declare the money but claimed she didn’t realise that she needed to.
Pope pleaded guilty to false representation to obtain benefits and two counts of fraud at Manchester Crown Court. She was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years
Over a period of six years and six months, Pope received benefits of £22,345.16 to which she wasn’t entitled to.
Defending, Paul Hodgkinson said that Pope has voluntarily agreed to pay back £45 a month.
At this rate of return she will be 100 years old before the debt is cleared.
Mr Hodgkinson said it was a ‘tragic state of affairs’ for a woman of Pope’s age to appear in a crown court having never done so before and having no previous convictions.
He added that she has caring responsibilities and suffers from health problems herself.
Sentencing, Judge David Stockdale QC said he was satisfied that the proceeds of the benefit fraud had not been spent by Pope to fund a ‘lavish lifestyle’.
But the judge told her: ‘This is serious offending.
‘When benefits such as this are handed out to those who act fraudulently, then there is less benefits available to those who genuinely need them.’
Pope pleaded guilty to making a false representation to obtain a benefit, and two counts of fraud.
She was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.