Benefits cheat claimed £48k with savings lies

Leanne Charlton was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court

A woman falsely received more than £48,000 in benefits after lying about owning a home and having savings, a court has heard.

Leanne Charlton, 44, made multiple false claims in her application for Universal Credit and swelled her personal savings at the expense of taxpayers, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Judge Amanda Rippon said Charlton deserved jail for her "outrageous" abuse of the benefits system but gave her a suspended sentence as she was the sole carer for her two young children.

Charlton, of Graystones in Gateshead, admitted dishonesty by making false representations to obtain benefit, with the guilty plea coming on the opening day of her trial.

In May 2019, Charlton made a claim for universal credit, prosecutor Ian Cook said.

The form asked her if she had any savings or investments, including a house, but she answered no before signing the document.

She also said she was paying her father £400 a month in rent, the court heard.

Mr Cook said all three were lies and Charlton actually owned a property which she was renting out, had £10,000 in savings and was receiving £390 a month from her dad.

'You deserve prison'

Over the following three and half years, Charlton received £48,074.85 in universal credit, with her savings increasing to more than £18,000, before an investigation by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) revealed her lies.

When challenged, Charlton claimed she had misread the application form.

Judge Rippon said Charlton did "not need the money" but was making "gravy", adding, such "abuse" of the benefits system was "appalling" and "absolutely outrageous".

The judge said other people who genuinely needed benefits were being "thwarted" by false claimants like Charlton while taxpayers had been funding her savings account.

"You deserve a prison sentence," Judge Rippon told Charlton, but added her two young children did not.

"They are the only reason you are not going to prison today," the judge said, but warned Charlton if there were any breaches of her suspended prison sentence order she would be jailed and her children taken into care.

She was jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years with 100 hours of unpaid work.

A proceeds of crime hearing will be held at a future date.