A Huntingdonshire Woman, Lisa Jane Miller, formerly from Yaxley has been found guilty of benefit fraud and was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday 6 July 2007.
Miller pleaded guilty at Huntingdon Magistrates Court in May to four charges of benefit fraud between January 2004 and August 2005 and received a 12 month prison sentence, which has been suspended for 18 months.
The court was told that Miller made claims for benefit whilst an unemployed single parent with six children from November 2003 and in the same period it was discovered that she also lived with her partner, whom she later married.
During that time she fraudulently claimed more £25,000 in income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit. Miller is one of the cases to be brought to court by a specialist team of investigators drawn from Huntingdonshire District Council and the Department for Work and Pensions fraud offices based in Huntingdon. Both will seek to recover all the overpayments made.
In passing sentence, the judge said, “The claimant’s actions had been deliberate and fraudulent and she only avoided being sent to prison due to her early guilty pleas.”
Miller, who was sentenced to 52 weeks in prison for one charge and 26 weeks for each of the three additional charges to run concurrently and suspended for 18 months, was also ordered to serve a two month curfew, undertake 200 hours of paid work and pay £200 costs. It was explained to her that if she breached any of those orders she would be sent to prison immediately to serve the balance of her prison sentence.
Terry Rogers, executive councillor for revenues and benefits said; “This sentence demonstrates that the courts view cases like this as seriously as we do. We are determined to ensure that people fraudulently claiming benefits are brought to justice. This money is public money and we have a responsibility to ensure that only those who are genuinely entitled to benefits receive them.”
If you know someone who is claiming benefit which they are not entitled to you can contact the Fraud Investigation Team on 01480 388480 or call the 24 hour confidential Fraud Hot Line on 01480 388188. You can also report fraud by e-mail to FraudTeam@huntsdc.gov.uk or by visiting the councils website www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk. When calling please leave as much information as possible to ensure that the council is aware of the full facts before an investigation commences. All calls received will be dealt with and treated in the strictest confidence.