Cookstown woman given suspended sentence for £46,400 benefit fraud at Dungannon Crown Court

Gertrude Connolly, 71, fraudulently claimed over £46,400 in ESA and PIP payments. She received a nine-month suspended sentence at Dungannon Crown Court.

Cookstown pensioner convicted of £46,400 benefit fraud

Google News UK — Crime (en) reports that a 71-year-old woman has been convicted at Dungannon Crown Court for fraudulently claiming more than £46,400 in benefits.

Gertrude Connolly, of Greenacres, Cookstown, was acting as appointee for a benefit claimant when she failed to declare that claimant's true circumstances. She supplied inaccurate information to the Department for Communities in support of the claims, resulting in an overpayment of benefits.

Connolly claimed Employment Support Allowance totalling £29,345.13 and Personal Independence Payments totalling £17,153.54. She was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, suspended for three years.

The fraud was uncovered following a Department for Communities investigation. Suspected benefit fraud can be reported anonymously to the Department for Communities via NI Direct.

Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)