THE BENEFIT-CHEAT BRIDE 'SINGLE MOTHER' TRAPPED ON FACEBOOK

[Daanyeer]

Unveiled on Facebook, the benefit-cheat bride: Jail for 'single mother' trapped by her wedding snaps
By Claire Ellicott
22nd February 2011


Posing in an elegant white gown and smiling for the camera, she looks every inch the perfect bride.
Hazel Cunningham then posted the pictures of her Barbados wedding on her Facebook page so her friends could see her on the happiest day of her life.
But, unfortunately for her, investigators from the local council were also looking at her photos.

And they discovered that Cunningham, 47 – who said she was a single mother when she was in fact living with her husband – was fleecing the taxpayer of thousands of pounds in false benefits claims.
She wrongly claimed income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit at the same time as enjoying holidays in Turkey up to three times a year and a luxury Caribbean wedding.
Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent heard she falsely claimed benefits amounting to an average of £170 a week.
Cunningham, of Ashford, Kent, also failed to notify the authorities of her maternity pay from her employer.


She was sentenced to 120 days in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of making false statements and one of failing to notify a change in circumstance.
And she was ordered to repay the money, a total of just under £15,000.
She was also prosecuted in 2009 for failing to declare that she was working while claiming a total of £21,000 in incapacity benefit, housing and council tax benefits.
Peter Wood, the leader of Ashford Borough Council which brought the prosecution, said: ‘This case is another success for the council who work tirelessly to ensure that the honest taxpayers of the Ashford borough are not defrauded. The message is clear: people who commit benefit fraud will be caught.’
Sentencing Cunningham, magistrates said: ‘You have had previous convictions, you have lied to the probation officer, you have denied your guilt until the last minute, and you have also lied in court.’

Last year, mother-of-three Kim Stokes who professed to be a single mother was caught out after letting slip on Facebook she had a husband.
The 36-year-old told the Department for Work and Pensions that she was a lone parent, unemployed and separated from her husband.
But after fraud investigators found pictures on Facebook showing Stokes, her husband Richard and their children enjoying family activities, she was hauled before the courts.

Stokes had been overpaid by about £15,000 in housing and council tax benefits as well as income support over the previous two years, Telford Magistrates’ Court heard.
Deputy District Judge David Stott gave Stokes, from Telford, Shropshire, a 12-month community order.



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