Taxi Driver In £17,000 Benefits Fraud
23rd September 2008
A Dawlish woman fiddled almost £17,000 in benefits by failing to tell the Department of Work and Pensions that she had started working for a taxi company.
Exeter Crown Court heard 57-year-old Ann Muff committed 117 offences over a four and a half year period and the total involved was £16,797.83.
Prosecutor Emily Pitts said the claim for incapacity benefit started as a legitimate one in 1999, but in 2001 she obtained employment with a cab company.
But she made false representations to the Department of Work and Pensions in that she failed to disclose that she was in fact working.
Mitigating, Piers Norsworthy said the case was an unhappy affair because her husband was also indicted, but the prosecution had then decided to offer no evidence against him. However, three days after that happened he died of a heart attack having been married to the defendant for 41 years.
Mr Norsworthy said Muff's son was a drug addict and on a tight budget, and she had given him money to help him out.
He said there were emotional issues which weighed heavily on her shoulders and she was distraught at her husband's death.
She now did not have any ties with the Westcountry and wanted to go back to Bradford where she had links.
However, because of the downturn in the housing market she had been unable to sell her property and her husband had accrued debts of which she was not aware.
Muff, of Oak Park Villas, Dawlish, pleaded guilty to one charge of making dishonest representations to obtain benefit and asked for a further 116 similar offences to be considered.
She was given a 26-week prison sentence suspended for two years with a 12-month supervision order.
Passing sentence, Judge Paul Darlow told Muff: "This represents a course of conduct over a four and a half year period during which you deprived the taxpayer of nearly £16,800."
"It was a lot of money over an extended period of time. But I take into account your guilty plea, the fact that the claim was legitimate to start with and the risk of re-offending is slight."
Source; thisissouthdevon.co.uk
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