‘Benefits cheat’ owned £1.3m home, court told

A mother awarded a £1.3million house and a Turkish villa in a divorce battle defrauded the taxpayer out of £40,000, a court heard.

Ellen De Bruin, 55, claimed £10,000 in income support benefits after failing to tell the Department for Work and Pensions about her Turkish holiday home, a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London, was told. She also received £30,000 after making false representations to the Legal Aid Agency, it was claimed.

De Bruin was handed the £145,000 holiday home as well as the fivebedroom family home as part of the settlement following her divorce from husband Stephen De Bruin in 2015.

De Bruin, of Hornchurch, Essex, denies two counts of benefit fraud. The trial continues.