Mum-of-three trade union rep fiddled £29,000 in benefits
AIRPORT WORKER SPARED JAIL AFTER JUDGE TOLD SHE IS EXPECTING HER FOURTH CHILD
A TRADE union representative illegally claimed £29,000 in welfare handouts while working at Manchester Airport.
Single mother of three, Catherine Garrod, 35, pocketed incapacity benefit and then employment and support allowance over a five year period after falsely claiming she was unable to work.
Garrod, who is now pregnant with her fourth child, was in fact being paid expenses by the GMB trade union and was working in an undisclosed role at the airport.
She was caught after an investigation by Department of Work and Pensions investigators in 2018. She later claimed she had told the taxman she was working but failed to tell the DWP. The total overpayment was £29,453.
Garrod, of Bury, admitted two benefit fraud charges but was given 25 weeks jail suspended for two years.
Bolton Crown Court heard Garrod was initially legitimately claiming incapacity benefit from July 7 2008, but should have informed the authorities when she got a job at the airport on September 4, 2013.
Garrod’s lawyer, Kevin Liston, told the court Garrod had three children aged 16, nine and two and was pregnant for the fourth time. He said: “She has faced difficulties in terms of her own health position. She is a lady who has a catalogue of personal medical problems and she is having ongoing treatment and referrals,” he said.
“She is the primary carer for the three children and there is evidence that this defendant struggles to manage both herself and her finances. What she did was email HMRC to say she was working and she accepts she never notified the correct agency.
“She didn’t disclose to the DWP that she was working.
“In her mind she had notified a government agency of that position however she concedes that she did not notify the correct agency and did not fully disclose the extent of the hours being worked.
“She also accepts being asked in a telephone interview in 2017 if was she working and she said ‘no.’
“She was residing with her mother, but now lives with her ex partner who is the father of the youngest child.
This is stable accommodation and stable support. She has been assessed as low-risk of harm and reoffending. Repayment has commenced.”
Judge Graeme Smith told Garrod: “It is clear you have a very complex medical history. This goes someway to explain the circumstances which led to the committal of this offence.
“I am going to suspend this sentence, as you have a low risk of reoffending and you have significant caring responsibilities of three young children who will be affected.”
A SUPPLY teacher was escorted from a school after it was alleged he made a racial slur towards a pupil.
Manchester Health Academy in Wythenshawe say they were investigating the claims, which were raised after a video was circulated on social media.
Headteacher Kevin Green said the academy was taking the complaints ‘very seriously.’
A parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said her son had witnessed the incident.
She said he was left upset and distressed by the racial language, alleged to have been used by the teacher towards a 12-year-old pupil.
She added: “It’s awful, you don’t expect that from anyone let alone a teacher.”
Mr Green, in a statement, said: “We have been made aware of an incident involving a supply teacher and a pupil at the school.
“The teacher is employed through an external agency and was escorted off the site when the incident was raised with staff. The school will thoroughly investigate the allegations and we are taking the complaints against the person very seriously.
“Racist language is completely unacceptable and has no place in our school or our society.”