Benefits cheat mum stole £30,000 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Benefits cheat mum stole £30,000

4:51pm Wednesday 16th January 2008 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

A mum of three who cheated the benefits system out of almost £30,000 has been ordered to repay the cash.

Ceri Ashbolt may have to sell the family home despite having recently re-mortgaged to pay off some of her husband's debts, a court heard.

And if the 33-year-old fails to repay the cash she could face an 18 month jail term despite having avoided prison for the original offences.

Ashbolt, of Cunningham Road, Swindon, pleaded guilty to failing to notify a change in circumstance and two of making a false representation to get benefit.

She also asked for a further 99 similar offences to be taken into consideration and in September last years was put on a suspended sentence.

At that hearing a judge was told she may have been better off if she had correctly claimed benefits she was entitled to.

But under swingeing proceeds of crime laws she had been ordered to repay £29,073.57p during the next year or face the time behind bars.

Judge Douglas Field, sitting at Swindon crown court, ruled that Ashbolt had benefited to that sum through her crime so must forfeit the money.

Chris Oswold, defending, told the court "It is an example of the rather draconian measures."

The court was told that Ashbolt had almost £100,000 worth of equity in the family home before re-mortgaging.

Chris Smyth, prosecuting, said even after the new loan was taken out there is still in excess of the amount she has to pay in the value of the house.

He said it was normal to ask for the money in six months but said "We will accept 12 months as it is the family home."

Ashbolt claimed income support, housing benefit and council tax relief for six years despite holding down a job.

At an earlier hearing the court was told she plundered £28,252.80p in state handouts between September 1999 and September 2005.

However during that period he said she was working as a sales assistant at Mothercare World and earning about £90 a week.

Rob Ross, defending, said at the time of the offences his client had been living with her two children in Pinehurst and struggling with her mortgage.

"Her parents were helping with childcare; they died. She buckled under the pressure. She is as much a victim as anyone else. She accepts she did wrong," he said.

He said that after looking at her case he went to the Inland Revenue website to see what she could have got if she had claimed benefits and told the truth about her circumstances.

During the six years he said that she would have been entitled to £23,500 in Working Family Tax Credit and an additional £19,500 to pay for childcare.

"So this lady would in effect have been better off by being honest," he told the court.

However he added "I hasten to say no one will agree our figures but they were worked out by using the government's own website."

Ashbolt was put on a 36 week jail term suspended for a year and told to do a six month supervision order.