Woman jailed for claiming benefits pretending to be single
By IANSMonday, January 24, 2011
LONDON - A 69-year-old British woman has been jailed after it was found that she was pretending to be single and had claimed benefits from the government worth 63,000 pounds.
Thelma Grey, a diabetic and blind in one eye, lied for nine years to get income support while she was living with her husband, Dennis Dutton, the Daily Express reported.
Grey, formerly of Gloucestershire, who moved to St Helens on the Isle of Wight, admitted obtaining income support, pension credits and council tax benefits by claiming she was a single woman.
She pleaded guilty to charges of deception between 1998 and 2007.
Jailed for eight months, Grey has since repaid 9,000 pounds.
Prosecutor Simon Burns told the Gloucester Crown Court: “This was a systematic siphoning of large amounts of benefits.”
Judge William Hart told Grey that despite her age, previous good character and poor health, she had to go to prison.
“The public sometimes seem to think these days that benefit frauds are not considered by the courts to be serious. That is quite wrong. Stealing significant sums from the state directly or indirectly affects us all,” Hart said.
