£15k benefit cheat went on lavish holidays
She spent money on trips to Australia, Gran Canaria and Corfu
ABENEFIT cheat who ‘lived the high life’ after illegally pocketing more than £15,000 has avoided jail.
Deborah Kershaw, from Waterfoot, used the money to pay for holidays to Australia, Gran Canaria, Corfu and Tunisia and drove around in a Range Rover Sport on private plates to ‘transport her ponies’, a court heard.
The mum-of-two initially denied the housing benefit fraud when interviewed by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) investigators.
However she pleaded guilty on the day of trial at Burnley Magistrates Court to pocketing £15,638.64 between March 2013 and November 2017 after failing to declare that she was living with her partner Christopher Slattery.
She was given a 183-day jail sentence, suspended for 12 months with a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to pay £150 costs.
Prosecutor Neil White said Kershaw, 33, had ‘been living the high life’ after ‘abusing the benefit system’ and obtaining ‘substantial financial reward’.
Mr White said the defendant told the DWP that she was ‘not in a relationship’ with Mr Slattery and that he only stayed over a ‘couple of nights a week’.
However he told the court: “Their Facebook posts however gave a much different impression.
“There’s a post where he says he will never abandon her and he consistently refers to her as his partner.
“All of her profile pictures are of them two in an apparently loving relationship.
“They have also holidayed together to Gran Canaria, Corfu and Tunisia.
“She was grilled about the holidays she had and asked why she couldn’t attend a DWP appointment in 2016.
“She said she was on holiday at the time at Butlins in Skegness. In fact she at no point mentioned where she actually was because, of course, it was Australia and she was enjoying a lavish holiday there during the course of which she attended a restaurant and describes the restaurant as the most expensive she has ever been too.
“Perhaps an indication of her approach to the money she was getting was a Facebook post on October 21, 2016, where she makes a reference to Australia saying she is so excited and can’t wait to go and on the very same date she also posts ‘the best things in life are free’.
“Well, quite, because that seemingly was what was paying for everything.”
The court heard that Mr Slattery’s business was registered at her address on Piercy Terrace, he was the named account holder for gas, electricity, and water and he paid the rent in cash to the landlord.
Mr White said: “She was claiming housing benefit saying [Mr Slattery] is not living there but everything he has is registered to her address.
“In the meantime she is getting cars, driving a Range Rover on private plates to pull her ponies around, she’s going on holidays to Australia and not telling anyone.
“That’s the scale of which this matter was going on over the years.”