Housing benefit fraudster is on incapacity benefit

A COUPLE who pretended they were landlady and tenant cheated taxpayers out of more than £16,000 in housing benefit.

Heidi Lawrence, 32, from Roundswell, Barnstaple, and Cameron Provan, 39, of Gleneagles, Sticklepath, Barnstaple, claimed the benefit for years without admitting they were living together in a relationship.

At North Devon Magistrates' Court Lawrence pleaded guilty to two charges of making a false statement to obtain benefit. Provan pleaded guilty to the same two charges and an additional charge of intimidating a witness. The court heard while the investigation was under way, Provan approached an employee of North Devon Council's benefits office, shouting abuse and threatening to kill her husband. The woman's teenage child was with her at the time.

The prosecuting solicitor for North Devon Council, Trevor Blatchford, told the court the pair had first lied, by claiming Provan was a tenant, in order to get housing benefit in September 2002. They then repeated the deceit in March 2005.

They were wrongly paid housing benefit — totalling £16,566 — for eight years.

The fraud came to light in November 2009 when Provan was convicted in the magistrates court of assaulting Lawrence, who was by then his ex-girlfriend.

That hearing was told they had been in a relationship for 15 years, information which alerted the suspicions of the council's benefits team.

During the years they had lived together, Lawrence alone had a mortgage on the property they shared.

She worked full-time as a residential care worker at Chelfham Mill School. Provan was on Job Seekers' Allowance, the court heard.

North Devon Council made an application for £14,066 compensation from Lawrence and £2,500 from Provan, as well as £75 costs.

Laurence Overend, defending Lawrence, said his client had used the benefits to pay her mortgage, not to fund a lavish lifestyle. He said she was of limited means and had significant debts.

Defence solicitor Tim Hook said Provan was on incapacity benefit for mental health problems. His client accepted it had been stupid to speak aggressively to the witness and he had no intention of carrying out any threat.

Provan's case was sent to Exeter Crown Court for sentence. Lawrence was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work and was told to pay £1,560 in compensation to the council at £30 a week.

North Devon Council said it would take action to recover the remainder of the fraudulently claimed benefit.