Playboy model in £44k benef its swindle
She starred in X-rated movie while claiming handouts for three years
‘She was obsessed by money’
A GLAMOUR model who claimed thousands in disability benefits while modelling for Playboy was yesterday ordered to repay £50,000 of taxpayers’ money.
Julia Martinez, 45, forged a lucrative career as a glamour model and photographer but illegally claimed benefits for three years.
She admitted fraud after investigators discovered she had starred in an adult DVD for Playboy, and found a diary where she wrote she was lucky ‘have a benefit system that lets me live comfortably’.
She pleaded guilty to five charges for falsely claiming benefits over three years from 2008, and received a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for one year, in January 2015.
Martinez, from Cheltenham, did not pay back the £44,000 she obtained fraudulently following her conviction and her fine has now gone up to more than £52,000 due to inflation and the fact she had not previously disclosed all her assets.
But at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, a judge ruled Martinez should repay £50,000 of the money – deducting more than £2,000 from the full amount.
Prosecutor George Threlfall QC told the court Martinez had shown a ‘pattern of mendacity’ in the two years since her conviction. He claimed her available assets were ‘greater than’ she had declared because she had recently sold a second home in Spain for 110,000 euros.
Mr Threlfall also claimed Martinez had bank accounts in Spain, Jersey and the Isle of Man which ‘she failed to provide details for’. He said: ‘Her available assets we say are much greater than what we can actually establish. The fact is she has been hiding assets that in itself really casts a shadow.’
Lisa Freeman, defending, said ‘assumptions’ cannot be made on the extent of Martinez’s wealth. A court previously heard that inspectors found she had ‘appeared in a Playboy film’. Details of the film were not disclosed, but it was released on DVD. Martinez also had a successful modelling and photographic career and used an alias to send money to Spain in an attempt to avoid detection.
She had told benefit officials she was unable to work because of sickness and went on to claim £27,908.67 in income support, a further £14,112 in disability payments and council tax relief of £2,178.63 – totalling £44,199.30.
Martinez even went to the lengths of changing her name and sending money to Spain to avoid getting caught.
Mr Threlfall, also prosecuting in the 2015 trial, said Martinez ‘loved money, whether earned or received through benefits’.
He said: ‘Her diary is a fascinating insight into someone who was obsessed by money, making it both honestly and dishonestly. She said the benefit system was “fair game”. We also seized a DVD. It was clear she had acted in a Playboy DVD.’ He added she wrote she was very lucky, owned her own house, was slim and attractive, had a lovely dog and ‘a benefit system that allows me to live comfortably’.
Rob Lancaster, defending in 2015, said Martinez had a history of mental health problems and was trying to get away from an abusive past. ‘Miss Martinez has suffered serious depression since her 20s, long before she made her first claim,’ he said.
Yesterday she was given a confiscation order for the sum of £50,000, which she has three months to pay or she faces the nine-month jail term.
Judge William Hart said: ‘The particular criminal conduct figure uplifted by the application of the retail price index brings the figure to £52,000.
‘Her claim that it was not dishonest from the outset, there is no actuarial evidence to substantiate that.’