Woman denies trio of benefit fraud charges

A Perthshire woman has denied a £12,000-plus benefits scam stretching over more than two years.

Claire Sinclair (44), of Mitchell Street, Crieff, is accused of failing to tell the Department of Work and Pensions that she had been working with Perth and Kinross Council’s Education Department.

She is said to have been paid almost £5000 in Income Support and then received DWP cash worth more than £6500 during the period of the alleged offence .

She was to have faced trial at Perth Sheriff Court on January 20 but that has now been delayed until April 4.

An earlier preliminary hearing has been scheduled for March 16.

Sinclair has denied a total of three charges.

The first alleges that between November 24, 2012, and January 25, 2013, at East Craigvannie Cottage, Crieff, she knowingly failed to give prompt notification to officials of the DWP of a change in her circumstances which she knew would affect her entitlement to Income Support.

She omitted to inform them she was working with the council - and in receipt of earnings - and was paid £927 in Income Support to which she wasn’t entitled.

She also faced a second charge of knowingly making false statements that she was unemployed and had no earnings, the truth being that she was working with the education department.

It is alleged that she obtained £5,485.39 in Income Support, to which she wasn’t entitled, between December 27, 2013, and December 26, 2014.

The third charge alleges that between December 3, 2012, and January 11, 2015, again at East Craigvannie Cottage, Ms Sinclair failed to disclose that she was in receipt of earnings in excess of the prescribed limit and obtained Carers’ Allowance totalling £6,613.10.