A WELLINGBOROUGH woman has been given a 12-week suspended prison sentence for fraudulently claiming more than £15,000 in benefits.
Sarah Hobbs, of Shelley Road, claimed income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit but didn’t declare that she had a secret bank account with regular monthly wages being paid in. Wellingborough Council launched a joint investigation with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after it received information claiming her husband was working.
Investigations were carried out and it was discovered Mrs Hobbs had full access to an undisclosed bank account into which her husband’s wages were being paid.
Mrs Hobbs, 31, was interviewed under caution by both council and DWP officers and was later charged to appear at Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court.
Mrs Hobbs pleaded guilty to two offences – one of failing to declare capital funds to obtain income support and one of failing to declare capital funds to obtain housing and council tax benefit.
Last Thursday, she appeared at Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court where she was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment for each offence to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months.
Mrs Hobbs was also given a 12-month supervision order, told to do 160 hours unpaid work and instructed to pay £100 in costs.
Leader of Wellingborough Council, Councillor Paul Bell, said: “We take benefit fraud extremely seriously.
“We have an excellent track record in uncovering fraud and this prosecution should serve as a warning to others who think they can get away with cheating the system.
“Those who fraudulently claim benefits are putting an additional, unnecessary burden on the taxpayer and we will not tolerate it.”
Mrs Hobbs had fraudulently claimed £6,857.50 income support, £7,682.40 housing benefit and £1,357.13 council tax benefit, making the total overpaid £15,897.03. Wellingborough Council is pursuing full recovery of the overpayment
