Benefits cheat worked as cleaner

A benefits cheat falsely claimed more than £16,000 over a six year period while working as a Black Country council cleaner, a court was told.

Cancer sufferer Anne Field admitted receiving money she was not entitled to and is now set to be sacked from her Walsall Council job.

The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges of claiming false benefits despite having capital in excess of £50,000 when she appeared at Walsall Magistrates Court yesterday. Field, of Brookland Road, Walsall Wood, claimed a total of £16,511.51.

She also asked for four further matters relating to incomplete forms to be taken into count.

Although all the money has been repaid magistrates decided to fine her a total of £450 and ordered her to pay £150 prosecution costs.

Miss Fiona Samuda, prosecuting for Walsall Council, said £13,376.85 in housing and £3,134.66 in council tax benefits had been claimed between August 2001 and February 2007.

She said in excess of £50,000, money which had come from the sale of a house in Walsall Wood, had not been declared and was only revealed after Field was interviewed.   

Mr Patrick Currie, defending, said Field was separated from her husband in 2001 forcing her to find a temporary home with family and friends.

After moving into her own flat and earning £200 a week from her job she started claiming benefits. She was then hit by cancer and more recently had undergone a back operation with recovery being her main focus.

He added she had intended to live off and provide funds to her daughter from the property sale.

Mr Currie said: “She regrets what she has done and and is very ashamed of her behaviour which is totally out of character. It has been made quite clear she will be dismissed by the local authority.

“Her poor health was at the forefront of her mind rather than the benefits position. She was concentrating on surviving cancer.”

Magistrates said they took into consideration Field’s early guilty plea.