A WOMAN was paid more than £4,600 benefit to which she was not entitled because she concealed the fact she was living with a partner.
Michaelle McLaughlin, 43, of Hanover Street admitted benefit fraud at Warrington Magistrates Court and was sentenced to a 50-hour community punishment order, pay £100 costs and repay a total of £4,676.
She was due to appear in court two days previously but failed to appear and was arrested after magistrates issued a warrant.
The court was told McLaughlin failed to declare that she had a partner living with her from June 2006 until November 2008 and was subsequently overpaid housing benefit of £3,666 and council tax benefit of £1,010.
After the hear, Adrian Webster, the Warrington Borough Council’s benefits manager, said: “All benefit theft is crime. There are no exceptions. People who knowingly withhold information or deliberately fail to report a change in their circumstances are benefit thieves. It is not ‘playing the game’ – it is breaking the law.”
