£50k benef its fraudster hid a £260k nest egg
A WOMAN who fraudulently claimed more than £50,000 in benefits despite sitting on a £260,000 inheritance was jailed for 16 months yesterday.
Sandra Innes, 56, took a mobility car and thousands of pounds in benefits over five years, claiming she was struggling to make ends meet. But all the time she was sitting on a massive windfall from a relative, which she failed to disclose.
Innes, from Aberdeen, initially denied charges of fraudulently claiming a total of £50,315.01 from the taxpayer but finally admitted her guilt in front of a jury. Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that between October 8, 2008, and January 16, 2013, she fraudulently claimed £21,633.15 in income support.
She also claimed housing and council tax benefits amounting to £25,822.26 and a further sum of £2,859.60 in employment support allowance between January 17 and October 23, 2013.
But she failed to tell Aberdeen City Council about £260,000 which she had inherited from her uncle – and the fact that she had been able to afford to buy a house for £110,000.
And when benefits chiefs began investigating, she signed the house over to her son, meaning there was nothing the state could reclaim from her.
Her solicitor David Sutherland said his client was a vulnerable woman in poor physical and mental health, but Sheriff William Summers told Innes her actions were
‘Motivated by greed’
‘deplorable’. He said: ‘You pled guilty on the third day of your trial.
‘The deplorable offences arose when you inherited £260,000, which you failed to disclose, and continued to received benefits for five years.
‘The total you claimed was more than £50,000 and at the same time you continued to enjoy the use of a mobility car at the taxpayers’ expense.
‘These crimes were motivated by greed and nothing more.
‘You bought a house for £110,000 and you used the rest of the money to sustain a lifestyle you could not afford.’
Records show that Innes bought the property on Caiesdykes Road, Aberdeen, for £110,000 in May 2008.
She then transferred ownership of the terraced house to her son, David Michael Wood, in July last year.