Benefit cheat nan who swindled £13k a month from the federal government dies | UK | News | EUROtoday

A advantages cheat who scammed the system out of greater than £1million over a 15-year interval has died.

Christina Pomfrey, who was 65 on the time, was jailed in 2020 after scamming Halton and Oldham councils in addition to the Department for Work and Pensions. A courtroom heard on the time how on the peak of the fraud, Pomfrey was claiming £13,000 a month and forking out on holidays, garments and beauty remedies.

She pretended she was blind and wanted a wheelchair, however she was uncovered after investigators caught her driving and studying a newspaper. Following what was described as one of many greatest social safety frauds to be prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), she was jailed for 3 years and eight months after she admitted 34 prices together with fraud, false accounting and making or supplying articles to be used in frauds.

The complete quantity she owed Halton was £240,095 which included ineligible direct funds of £188,825, housing profit overpayments of £50,375 and council tax arrears of £895. Following her conviction the council raised debt invoices to assert the cash again, however the authority was just lately knowledgeable of Pomfrey’s loss of life, stories Liverpool Echo.

Halton’s ruling govt board will probably be instructed later this week the debt should be written off attributable to Pomfrey having no property to assert the cash again from. A report back to the chief board, mentioned: “Following the individual’s passing, the council continued to attempt to recover the debts from the individual’s estate. However, we have been informed that the fraudulently obtained monies had been used to fund day to day living expenses, holidays etc. over many years.

“As a outcome, there aren’t any belongings remaining within the particular person’s property from which the council may acquire cost of the excellent money owed. The state of affairs is similar for Oldham Council and the DWP.”

The report mentioned that because the money owed can now not be recovered, approval is sought to write-off the excellent money owed, which will probably be funded from the council’s personal dangerous debt provision – a pot of cash it earmarks yearly to cowl cash it might not recuperate from debtors.