A woman who fraudulently claimed £25,000 in benefits she wasn't entitled to has been electronically tagged and given a six-month curfew by magistrates.
Theresa Gilmore admitted dishonestly claiming £29,276 in housing benefit and £4,737 in council tax benefit when she appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on Monday. The court heard that Gilmore, of Alliston Way, in South Ham, had failed to declare a savings account that made her ineligible for the payments, which she received between June 2006 and May 2011.
The 44-year-old failed to disclose she had a Nationwide Building Society account with more than £9,000 in it, and total savings in 2006 of more than £16,000 that pushed her over the benefits threshold.
However, the savings accounts were revealed by data matching carried out by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council earlier this year, in which the authority cross checked details given by benefits claimants with back account information held by HM Revenue and Customs.
Nicholas Bates, defending Ms Gilmore, said his client had immediately repaid the full sum and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. Mr Bates said: "This money was saved out of benefits by Mrs Gilmore over a considerable period of time.
"This wasn't money won on the football pools, or the lottery. She has been extremely frugal. She is used to living on next to nothing, buying clothes from charity shops and not turning the heating on in winter. Living a very basic life means money can be put away."
The court heard Ms Gilmore's partner, Paul Ellis, had gradually lost his sight over the course of their relationship and was now totally blind and unable to work, and she supplemented their benefits by working one evening a week at the One Stop shop in South Ham.
She was electronically tagged and given a curfew from between 7pm and 7am about from one evening per week, to allow her to continue in her job. She was also ordered to pay £150 in costs. Magistrate Liz Morris told Ms Gilmore: "This is a very serious offence and its a lot of money. You could be given a custodial sentence however we have decided we're not going to."
