Woman's curfew order
A 61-YEAR-OLD Minster woman has been given a curfew order after pleading guilty to benefit fraud.
Daphne Tanner, of The Broadway, claimed almost £20,000 worth of benefits she was not entitled to, of which just under £14,000 was income support.
On November 8, Tanner was sentenced at Maidstone Magistrates' Court for two offences of making false representations against the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as four offences of making false claims to Swale Council.
The court heard how Tanner made a total of six false representations when she failed to declare on the benefit claim form that she had received income from her widow's pension. The fraud was established on July 13 this year when it was identified through a monthly data match against other Government agency computer records.
In total, she fraudulently received housing benefit of £4,232.19, council tax benefit of £1,316.76 and income support worth £13,828.10.
Tanner was handed a curfew order between the hours 7pm and 7am. It will be relaxed for Christmas Day when she can remain out until 9pm.
Investigation team leader Janice Watts said: "We share a collective commitment to tackling all welfare benefit fraud."
To report benefit fraud, contact 01795 417714
Comments
by Geoff_Crayon2
Saturday, November 26 2011, 1:56PM
“What's with this latest obsession of councils....seeking to target and make examples of pensioners.
It just goes to show these low-life miscreants will stop at nothing to divert the attention away from their own fraudulent ways of conducting their business.
How exactly is handing out a curfew order between the hours of 7pm and 7am appropriate in this case. Oh! I can see it now, of course this must be a particularly critical time for these outdoor criminal activities to take place which involve pensioners applying for benefits they are not entitled to.”