Piffling sentence for old offence

A Barwell woman, who said she had no money of her own while she was claiming benefits, had over £50,000 in different bank accounts.

But Samantha Brogden paid the price for her dishonesty when she appeared before Hinckley magistrates on Thursday 21 May. After pleading guilty to dishonestly making a false statement in order to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, she was fined £275 and ordered to pay costs of £170 to the Borough Council.

The court heard that Brogden was overpaid Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit amounting to £4,610 between 21st June 2004 and 10th October 2005 – an amount that she will now have to repay in full.

When she was interviewed under caution, Brogden repeatedly lied to the interviewing officer about having the money. She said she had no other accounts and only admitted the truth when the officer presented her with the hard evidence.

When she was asked what she thought would have happened to her claims if she had been honest about her accounts, Brogden said she thought that the council would probably have thought she had too much money to claim.

In sentencing her, the magistrate said that although her claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit were initially legitimate, she dishonestly embarked upon a planned and deliberate fraud after coming into the undeclared money.

Brogden had ignored several opportunities to declare the capital, and it was the magistrate’s opinion that she had done this in order to obtain benefit to which she wasn’t entitled.

htp Dave