Memory issue delays benefit trial

The trial of a Perthshire woman accused of a £20,000 benefits scam has been pushed back again after a sheriff heard the woman was having problems with her memory.

Margaret Leaver (51), of Sauchob Crescent, Methven, was due to stand trial on Tuesday this week but her solicitor was able to persuade sheriff William Wood to delay the trial until December because she was finding it difficult to recall recent events.

Solicitor Billy Somerville said Ms Leaver could not remember a recent meeting in relation to the upcoming trial and that doctors had recently referred her to hospital to have an MRI scan in an attempt to understand the problems she has been experiencing.

Sheriff William Wood accepted Mr Somerville’s motion to defer the trial and she is now due to appear again in the dock on December 4, with an earlier hearing scheduled for October 5. It is at least the third time the trial has been delayed.

Ms Leaver has previously denied that between August 31, 2013, and February 12, 2016, she knowingly failed to give prompt notification to the Department of Work and Pensions of a change in her circumstances which she knew would affect her entitlement to benefit.

As a result, it is alleged she obtained Employment Support Allowance totalling £15,703.70 to which she was not entitled.

A second charge alleges that she was paid £4,608.34 in Housing Benefit between September 2, 2013, and February 14, 2016, after failing to update Perth and Kinross Council of a change in her circumstances.