Benefit cheat obtained £15,000

A BENEFIT cheat claimed more than £15,000 from Warrington Borough Council despite working in a tanning shop to pay off her boyfriend’s debt.
Karen Murray, 26, from Redshank Lane, Birchwood, was forced into acquiring a lease on a Warrington tanning shop and working there without receiving wages, to pay off her boyfriend’s debt.
In total she claimed £15,229 in benefit over a period of 17 months and pleaded guilty at Warrington Crown Court to false accounting and failing to notify changes of circumstances.
The court heard how Murray had been claiming the benefits from November 2004 to April 2006, despite having the job and living with her boyfriend at various times during the 17-month period.
Judge Stephen Clarke gave her a six month jail sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered her to complete 40 hours unpaid work.
No order was made in relation to the £15,229 because of her inability to pay.
David Rose, defending, told the court Murray was a single mum who was in an abusive relationship at the time, about which she had made several complaints to the authorities.
She never actually received any money for working in the shop and was due to start a new job in the coming months.
He added that she had now ended the relationship and moved out of the area.
Judge Clarke told the defendant: “What has saved you from prison is the mitigation that has arrived in your case.”