Benefit Fraud conviction

A 44 year old Bromsgrove woman who cheated the benefits system out of more than £14,000 has become the latest Bromsgrove resident to be taken to court by Bromsgrove District Council.

Mandy Jane Lines of Breakback Road, Bromsgrove pleaded guilty at Redditch Magistrates Court to ten charges of dishonestly making false statements to obtain housing benefit and council tax benefit to which she was not entitled.

On Wednesday 16^th June 2010, the Magistrates heard that from 1997 to 2002 and also in 2007 she had completed ten application forms for benefit in which she stated that she lived as a lone parent with her children. An investigation by the Council Corporate Anti-Fraud Team obtained evidence that her husband to whom she had been married since 1993 was in fact living with her for the majority of that time. This resulted in an overpayment of housing and council tax benefits which totalled £14,573.32.

Lines was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months together with an 18 month community order with supervision.

She was also ordered to pay back £12,477.75 in compensation. She was warned that if she did not comply with the order, or committed any further offences she was likely to go to prison.

A spokesman for Bromsgrove District Council said, “It is vital that accurate information is supplied by people claiming benefits in order that they are paid correctly to those who need them. We remain committed to ensuring that this is what happens, and we will use every avenue open to us to catch those who abuse the system. Cheating that system is a crime that affects everybody in the community.”

Any suspected fraud can be reported to Bromsgrove District Council 01527 881221, by e-mail to hotline@bromsgrove.gov.uk, or by entering details on the fraud referral form on the Council’s website http://www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/.