Fraudster stole £70k in benef its
Mum of three had foreign holidays with her partner
A FRAUDSTER who pocketed £ 70,000 i n benefits while claiming her partner did not live with her was jailed for two years yesterday. Catherine Jardine enjoyed foreign holidays and Sky TV while claiming she was a single parent and the sole provider for her children.
The 44-year- old told officials her partner Thomas McDougall, the father of her three sons, lived with his mother and she only let him use her address to collect his post.
Jardine said Mr McDougall, 42, had moved out of the house in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, after the birth of their second son in 1993 and only returned in April 2013 after she found herself in financial trouble.
But a tip-off led to her being charged with obtaining £68,784.56 in income support by fraud between March 2006 and March 2013.
A jury at Hamilton Sheriff Court heard Mr McDougall was paying £110 a month for Sky in the house, bought football boots and a dog for the children, and had been seen driving mobility cars belonging to Jardine.
The family also travelled to Egypt in 2010 for a fortnight’s holiday and Mr McDougall had given Jardine’s address to his employer, Asda.
Jardine, who denied the offences but was found guilty, looked stunned as she was put behind bars.
Defence lawyer Steve Kelly said: ‘The amount of money received went towards her household. A holiday was paid for, but her input to that is unclear. Any money coming in went on maintaining the household.
‘Her health issues mean she is unfit for unpaid work and she has also been rated unsuitable for a restriction of liberty order. She is aware of the difficulties she now faces.’
Giving evidence, Jardine said she had never restricted Mr McDougall’s access to his children. She added: ‘When he was applying for the job in Asda, he asked if he could use my address for correspondence.
‘From 1993-2013 he did not stay with me. He moved back in in April 2013 because I was being interviewed by the Department for Work and Pensions and had had nothing for 14 weeks, and I had letters saying my electricity and gas were getting cut off.’
Mr McDougall said: ‘When I applied for that job I was staying with my mother. I was just paying for things the children needed.’
The jury took less than two hours to unanimously convict Jardine of fraudulently claiming income support.
Sheriff Thomas Millar told Jardine: ‘ You obtained a higher lifestyle than you would have had out of the public purse.’
‘Money went on household items’