Fraudster would need 100 years to pay back £143,000 of benefits

A BELFAST woman who committed one of the biggest benefit frauds in Northern Ireland will learn her fate when she is sentenced next week, a court heard yesterday.

Pauline Donaghy (42) claimed benefits she was not entitled to over a six-year period and was overpaid £143,634.80 in Housing Benefit and Income Support.

Belfast Crown Court heard that, while the mother-of-three is currently paying back £25 a week, “it would take 100 years to repay the money, not including any interest”.

After listening to submissions from both the Crown and defence, Judge RoseAnn McCormick QC branded the case and sentencing process as “complex and compelling” and said that she would pass sentence next Tuesday.

Prior to adjourning sentencing, Judge McCormick heard that Donaghy, from Ballysillan Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to declare a change of circumstances.

Donaghy admitted obtaining Housing Benefit between February 2009 and August 2015 and failing to notify the Social Security Agency that she was living with her partner, and of obtaining Income Support between January 2009 and June 2015 in the same circumstances.

Crown barrister Kate McKay said Donaghy obtained an overpayments of just over £22,340 in Housing Benefit and around £122,630 in Income Support which she was not entitled to.

Donaghy’s offending emerged when the Department of Social Development launched an in- vestigation regarding Housing Benefit on a house rented by Donaghy as a private tenant.

Telling the judge she believed the custody threshold had been met, Ms McKay said Donaghy’s offending “went on for a considerable period of time” and revealed the overpayment was “one of the largest there has been in this jurisdiction”.

Ms McKay added that she accepted the money was not used to fund a lavish lifestyle and that Donaghy came before the court with a clear criminal record.

Defence barrister Mark Farrell said that while Donaghy may have been reluctant at first to admit what she did, “full admissions” were made.

The barrister said the case heightened the depression and anxiety Donaghy already suffers and urged the judge to only consider custody “as a last resort”.