1:58pm Friday 3rd September 2010
By Tyrone Marshall
A CHORLEY woman was handed a suspended jail sentence after she pleaded guilty to lying about her income in order to claim nearly £20,000 in benefits.
Linda Allen, 53, of Liptrott Road, changed her plea to guilty when she appeared before Chorley magistrates last month when her case was listed for trial after she’d pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.
She admitted 13 offences of dishonestly making false statements about her income in order to claim nearly £20,000 in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit from Chorley Council.
On Wednesday, magistrates sentenced her to six months in prison suspended for two years.
The court heard she had claimed since 1995 on the basis that she was in receipt of a War Widow’s Pension. However she failed to disclose from the outset that she was also in receipt of an Armed Forces occupational pension.
The information had come to light following a national data matching exercise, the National Fraud Initiative.
Information from the Council’s benefit system was matched with data held by other public authorities including the Armed Forces Pension Agency.
Councillor Kevin Joyce, who oversees benefits for Chorley Council, said: “I hope this sends a warning to other people trying to cheat the benefit system.
“We will continue to check all our records and if people aren’t declaring what they should we will have no hesitation in prosecuting them.
“It’s unfair on the vast majority of residents who claim benefits fairly and I would urge anyone whose circumstances have changed to let us know as soon as possible so people are only receiving the benefits that they are entitled too.”
Allen was also handed an 18 month Community Punishment Order and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.
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