Cheat lost out on £7k in legitimate benefits

A mother-of-six from Wolverhampton who fiddled more than £32,000 in state benefits could have legitimately claimed even more, a court heard.

Lynne Marchant received income support, housing and council tax benefit over almost four years while going out to work. The 47-year-old, from Denmark Close, Dunstall, failed to notify the authorities she had jobs at car dealership Pendragon and a recruitment agency Brook Street, Wolverhampton, said Harbinder Lally, prosecuting.

But when the fraud was revealed, HM Revenue and Customs officials calculated she would have actually been legally entitled to £39,159 in working tax credits.

Marchant, who pleaded guilty to seven charges involving benefit fraud between 2004 and 2007, initially denied she was working when arrested in July 2008. But after being confronted with documents she confessed what she had done, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Marchant, who was of previous good character, used the money to provide for her family, said Sukdev Garcha, defending her.

"She was struggling to manage after being left with six children, four of whom are still at home," he said.

He said Marchant, who was described in a pre-sentence report as "a very honest and decent person", had started paying back the housing benefit.

The court heard she could not backdate her legal claim for working tax credits. She was sentenced to a total of 200 hours of unpaid community work and was also ordered to pay £350 towards the prosecution costs.

Deputy circuit judge David McEvoy told her: "For almost four years you claimed these benefits but it is clear you would have been entitled to an even greater sum if you had gone about it in the right way."