Benefits cheat who enjoyed holiday high life spared jail
Mum has only repaid £50 of £28,000
CONNOR GORDON
A benefits cheat who dishonestly claimed more than £28,000 and used the money to fund luxury holidays has avoided jail.
Gillian Dunn, 28, a mother-of-three, used the cash to splash out on trips to Turkey and Las Vegas with her partner.
Dunn, from Rutherglen, claimed she was a single mother living alone between September 2014 and August 2017.
But, a probe revealed she was with her partner, who earned almost £32,000 a year, and they were living in a home his mother had bought for them.
Shamed Dunn pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to fraudulently claiming £28,195.89 in Child and Working Tax credits.
Dunn, who recently gave birth, was ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work by Sheriff Johanna Johnston QC.
She will also be under social work supervision for 12 months.
Dunn was snared after an investigation was launched following an anonymous tip off to the Department of Works and Pensions.
She admitted going on plush holidays with her partner during the period she was claiming tax credits.
Prosecutor Debbie Carroll said: “When she was interviewed facts emerged that she was maintaining a common household with her partner.
“These included admissions that she went on holiday with her partner to Turkey in 2014 and also went to Las Vegas.”
Dunn’s partner at the time was working with construction company Balfour Beatty and earned more than £2600 a month.
The court heard they are no longer together and split up in August 2017.
Miss Carroll told the court that Dunn, from Rutherglen, has only repaid £50 which she handed over in April this year.