Mickey mouse sentences for £70k benefit theft

A couple who jetted off on holiday with some of the proceeds of a £70,000 benefit fraud were caught out by snaps of them posing with Mickey Mouse (see one here).

Marina Beddows, 54, and Colin Godbold, 57, were found out after they took their break, allowing investigators to snoop around their home.

The pair, from Margate, Kent, were found to be living together and claiming income support, council tax and housing benefits they were not entitled to.

They had claimed their relationship was landlord and tenant but fraud investigators used snaps of the beaming couple posing with Disney characters Pluto and Mickey Mouse to prove that the pair were an item.

Beddows was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, while Godbold was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail, suspended for 18 months.

A 12-week curfew was also imposed on the couple who admitted benefit fraud between 2002 and 2007 at a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court last week.

‘Benefit thieves have to understand that they will not get away with it,’ said Steve Tamsett, senior fraud manager for Kent.

• But they did, didn't they, Steve?
  
  These people do it for the money. So hit them in the pocket. It was money that motivated them, and a financial penalty will help to deter them.
  
  People convicted of benefit fraud who don't go to prison should have to do unpaid work.
  
  Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have. A confiscation order should be automatic and immediate.
  
  If you don't punish people who are convicted of an easy crime, the offence will continue to look attractive.