York Guides

Tina Smith, 43, of St Michael's Court, Acomb, York, was sentenced to a 180-hour community punishment order when she appeared at York Crown Court yesterday.

Judge James Spencer told Smith imprisonment would cost the state yet more money, on top of the cash paid out because of her dishonesty, so took the view that she should give something back through a community punishment order.

"It will remind you, every week that you have to go, of the error of your ways," he said.

"I hope that they make the work very hard so you learn your lesson and other people discover they can't play fast and loose with the hard-earned taxes other people have to pay.
"You are very lucky."

Karamjit Singh, prosecuting for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), told the court the fraud started in December 1994 and continued until 2001 before resuming briefly in 2003.

In each case, Smith supplied incorrect information on an income support review form, saying she was a lone parent and had no capital. Claiming income support also made her eligible for council tax and housing benefit.

The amount fraudulently claimed by Smith was still in dispute – she claimed to have been paid £46,000 but the DWP calculated the figure at nearly £59,000.

Weekly payments of sums between £68 and £119 were made to Smith from December 1994 until December 2001, and from February 2003 and May of that year. The fraud came to light after Smith stopped claiming.

She was charged with 12 offences at crown court, and a further three in the magistrates' court. She admitted four cases at the higher court, not guilty verdicts were recorded on a further four counts and four charges were stayed. Smith had admitted the remaining charges at York Magistrates' Court, which committed her to the Crown Court for sentence.

Simon Hickey, in mitigation, said the money was not spent on high living and Smith was naive rather than a professional fraudster.

The DWP will return to York Crown Court in September in an attempt to recover the money.