Clumsy fraud trips couple eventually

A mother claimed her children’s father was their uncle to fraudulently claim nearly £23,000 in housing benefit.

For six years Tracy Kilfoyle pretended her landlord was an uncle to three of her four children.

But in fact he was their father, making the claim for housing benefit ineligible.

At Bolton Magistrates Court Kilfoyle, aged 42, of Valpy Avenue, Hall i‘th’ Wood, pleaded guilty to making false representation to obtain benefit.

Andrew Morris, prosecuting, said that in January 2005 Kilfoyle, a single mum, moved into her home and filled out a claim for housing benefit.

Officials queried it with her when they noticed her landlord had the surname Settle, the same as three of her four children.

But Kilfoyle lied, insisting that Mr Settle was her ex-partner’s brother.

The fraud came to light last year after the Department for work and Pensions suspected that Kilfoyle and Mr Settle were living together, after they had gone into Bolton Council’s One Stop Shop together to make a new claim for housing and council tax benefit and declared they were the parents of the children.

When questioned by investigators Kilfoyle said the house had originally been bought by Mr Settle with the intention of them living together, but due to family pressure that did not happen and she moved into the property alone.

She claimed she had been disturbed by noisy children when filling out the claim form and had mistakenly written “uncle” instead of “father”. Anthony Shimmin, defending, said Kilfoyle, who works as a cleaner, was a woman of “previous impeccable character”.

“Unfortunately, because of her financial situation she put herself at odds with the law,” he said, adding that she is now paying back the money.

“She was desperate and was forced into making a catastrophic mistake.”

Magistrates sentenced Kilfoyle to do 200 hours unpaid work and ordered that she pay £200 prosecution costs.