Divorcee Sandra Bellamy, 52, admitted claiming almost £15,000 in income support as well as housing and council tax payments under false pretences.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Bellamy had failed to divulge winning £154,026 from the National Lottery in May 2006.
She had owned a home in Southend before her marriage broke up and she moved to Bournemouth in 2004. She claimed for income support on September 4 that year, completing housing benefit and council tax forms a week later. She told the DWP that she was a single parent, living with her daughter. Her partner had left her with zero and she had no savings.
In August 2005 Bellamy bought a £247,500 property in Bournemouth, putting down her £30,000 divorce settlement as a deposit and taking out a mortgage. Five months after banking her lottery win she splashed out on another house in Bournemouth costing £249,950, putting down a £29,500 deposit and taking out another mortgage. Both properties were rented out for about £3,000 a month.
Her bank statements between June and October 2006 showed transactions in New York, Barbados, Turkey and Croatia.
In a bid to make amends she was repaying £50 a month to the DWP and Bournemouth council but still owed £13,200. But she has those asssets!
Branding the offences “blatant,” Judge Samuel Wiggs told Bellamy: “A few years ago this would have resulted in an immediate custodial sentence but the guidelines have changed.”
He imposed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered Bellamy to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.
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