Wife fiddled £60,000 in benefits

A woman illegally pocketed more than £60,000 in benefits over a five-year period, a court heard.

Claire Hackett did not tell officials when her estranged husband Paul moved back to live with the family, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday. She continued to claim as a lone parent.

The 39-year-old mother of three maintained the scam for five years.

She collected council tax and housing benefits along with income support to which she was not entitled, Mr Harpreet Sandhu, prosecuting, said.

Department of Works and Pensions staff launched an investigation in 2008 and discovered that the couple had a joint bank account and that her husband used the family home in Brierley Close, Cradley Heath, as his address to insure a car. He also paid the insurance policy on the property.

Mr Sandhu added: "This was not wholly fraudulent from the outset, because the couple were not living together when she first applied for benefit."

The fiddle continued from 2003 to January 2009 and totalled £60,482.

Mr David Swinnerton, defending, said Hackett "craved security and stability" and alleged that her husband "came and went" during their relationship, once leaving her for another woman. He added: "The benefit payments were maintaining a stable income for her children. She is ashamed and frightened by her first involvement in the criminal justice system."

Hackett and her husband are repaying the money at up to £400 a month.

They would have been entitled to substantial benefit payments over the five years of the crime if they had been honest, the court heard.

Hackett, who admitted six charges of failing to notify the authorities of her change in circumstances, was given a 20-week jail sentence, suspended under supervision for 12 months, and ordered to do 80 hours' unpaid work.