Crime Solicitors

A mother of three from Kent has been handed a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to do 300 hours community service after she fraudulently claimed over £33,000 in benefits over a four-year period.

Thirty-year-old Louise Simpson of Stanley Road, Gillingham claimed council tax and housing benefits and income support when she was no longer entitled to after failing to notify authorities about the fact that she was now living with a partner.

Simpson pleaded guilty to all nine charges on Wednesday at Chatham Magistrates court and she was subsequently given a suspended sentence for 24 months in addition to 300 hours of unpaid work. She will also have to pay a £80 victim surcharge.

The Department for Work and Pensions and Medway Council, which revealed that it would now try to recover the money, caught Simpson following a joint investigation that lasted several months. The latest benefit fraud case follows recent news that such investigations have risen substantially in Kent during the last two years, with over 7,500 recorded in 2012.

“Cases like these send out a strong message to all benefits claimants,” spokesperson for community safety and customer contact, Councillor Peter Hicks said. “They must make sure they only claim what they are entitled to or they will face criminal action and have to pay back any money they have wrongly received.”

Duncan Lewis' Crime Department includes a team of expert fraud solicitors with extensive experience in areas such as tax and benefit fraud, corruption and advance fee fraud.