A mother who inherited more than £50,000 but claimed around the same amount in benefits is today behind bars.
Housing care worker Tracie Colton was jailed for nine months for two charges of failing to tell authorities of her sudden windfall.
The mother-of-five and grandmother-of-one claimed £36,072.79 in income support and £14,692.61 in housing and council tax benefits between September 2002 and June 2006, a court heard.A 25-YEAR-old woman was ordered to undertake unpaid work after admitting four counts of benefit fraud.
Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Danielle Edgar received £1,904 in housing and council tax benefits which she was not entitled to.
A STOURBRIDGE mother-of-three who fiddled nearly £20,000 in benefits has avoided spending time behind bars.
Suzanne Davis, aged 33, claimed income support and council and housing benefits while maintaining she was an out-of-work lone parent with no cash.
On Thursday December 18, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told for long periods she was co-habiting with the father of her children who was working and helping to pay household bills.
A former top military scientist working for the Russian goverment now living in the Black Country has been spared jail after fiddling nearly £35,000 in benefits.
Yuri Podgurskiy, aged 45, was a central figure in the development of a weapon he found was being used against civilians, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
He “took exception” to the situation, said Mr Christopher O’Gorman, defending, fell foul of the Russian goverment and decided to flee to the United Kingdom and now lives in St Johns Street, Netherton.
Podgurskiy admitted two charges of benefit fraud and was given a 40-week jail term suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 150 hours community punishment.
James Fletcher, prosecuting, said the mother of three regularly filled in renewal application forms confirming her original statement that she was unemployed.
He explained: "She was interviewed on December 17 last year and she said she had stopped working for the NHS in 2003 and had been looking after her children and grand-children.
"She was further interviewed on January 24 and made a statement saying she had never worked for the NHS."
Payet ended up receiving a total of £21,401 to which she was not entitled. There had so far been no repayments.
