Woman falsely claimed £26,000 benefit

A WOMAN who falsely claimed a total of £26,158 in benefits was handed a suspended prison sentence by magistrates at Warrington.
Ann Beechall, aged 62, of Sinclair Avenue, Longford admitted three counts of benefit fraud by dishonestly making false statements.
The court was told she failed to declare that her daughter, Kelly Beechall, who was in full-time employment, was living with her.
Magistrates expressed concern at the period of time the offences spanned and the amounts overpaid.
They indicated that normally the offences would have resulted in immediate imprisonment but said they had taken into account the woman’s personal circumstances, previous good character and a pre-sentence report.
Beechall was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment on each of the three counts to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to do 280 hours unpaid community work and pay costs of £100.
After the hearing, Adrian Webster, Warrington Borough Council’s benefits manager said: “Deliberately withholding information that affects your claim is stealing. That’s why we are targeting benefit thieves. We’re closing in on benefit thieves with every means at our disposal.”