A fraudster who claimed she was single while living with her partner and swindled the benefit scheme for over £85,000 across a decade has narrowly avoided a jail term "by the skin of your teeth".
Billie Jean Crowther failed to tell benefits agencies that she was living with her partner, Stephen Lord, instead saying she was single to receive more money.
Investigators found Lord was employed at all times during the fraud which took place between October 2014 and January 2024.
He told his various employers that Crowther was his wife or next of kin and that he was a nominee for pension and death benefit during that time, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.
Prosecutor William Donnelly told Burnley Crown Court that Lord was named as a driver in car insurance Crowther had taken out.
He added that there were Facebook photos which appeared to show Crowther and Lord undergoing a wedding ceremony.
The woman is said to have received £85,347.62 across employment support benefit, housing benefit and universal credit over the 10 years.
Donnelly admitted that Crowther would have been entitled to some of it, adding it was difficult to distinguish how much of that sum was an overpayment.
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|The case was heard at Burnley Crown Court inside the town's Combined Court
The prosecutor told the court Crowther had received letters every year, asking to update the services if she had any material changes to her circumstances.
He said she did not do this.
The woman was interviewed in October 2023 where Donnelly submitted her responses were "disingenuous and contradictory".
Crowther's solicitor, Georgia Faulke, conceded her client's pre-sentence report didn't "make for happy reading", although noting Crowther had entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity.
PA | The woman is said to have received £85,347.62 across employment support benefit, housing benefit and universal credit over the 10 years
"When speaking to me today, she was very tearful, upset, and in my submission, she did appear to be genuinely remorseful," Faulke said.
Faulke said her client had been making efforts to repay the money, roughly £40 to £50 per month.
Recorder Daniel Lister said Crowther had received benefits she wasn't entitled to as she failed to disclose the information.
"All of that money that is paid by taxpayers is for people to receive who are entitled to it," he said.
"You have previous convictions for dishonest offences, though nothing as serious as this."
Lister added that Crowther was described as "lacking remorse and minimising your role in the offending".
Lister suspended an immediate two-year jail sentence for a period of two years.
Instead, the woman will be subject to an electronically-monitored curfew between 8pm and 8am for six months.
Lister added that "by the skin of your teeth, it is appropriate to suspend".
"This is very serious offending, and you were very nearly going through that door," he said.
"Make sure you comply with that order."