Light sentence for Belfast benefit fraud

A 53-year-old Belfast woman who suffers from polio has been given a suspended jail term after admitting to a charge of benefit fraud worth £28,500.

Kathleen Montgomery, who claimed the money in income support over a five year period from 2002, didn't tell the Department of Health and Social Services that she part-owned a house in North Dublin valued at the equivalent of £250,000.

Belfast Crown Court was told that she had left her husband to return to live in Belfast and didn't declare her share in the Ballymun property in Dublin when making her benefits claim in the north.

A defence lawyer said Montgomery was currently living on handouts from her family.

Judge Corinne Philpott was told by a Crown lawyer that the authorities believed Montgomery also had assets in the north of Ireland and a confiscation order had been served to recover the money, which had been claimed fraudulently.

Judge Philpott imposed a two year jail sentence, which would be suspended for two years.

htp Dave