By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 11:37, Saturday, 25 August 2012

A woman believed she was entitled to claim benefits as a single mother because her husband spent so long working away from home.

Donna McConville, a 35-year-old mother-of-four from Brampton, pocketed more than £13,000 to which she was not entitled after failing to tell the authorities that she had a husband to provide for her, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

Over a 15-month period, from March 2010 to June 2011, she was paid £10,050 in housing benefit, £1,680 in council tax benefit and £1,291 in income support – none of which she would have received if she had been honest about her circumstances.

And to make things worse, she would not have been allowed the benefits even if she had been a single parent, because for most of that period she had a part-time job as a £7.40 an hour office administrator with LLED Construction, a Kingmoor Park-based property maintenance company.

But that, prosecuting counsel Tim Evans said, was something else she overlooked when filling in her claim forms.

McConville, of Stanley Road, had denied three charges of making false representations to obtain the benefits but was found guilty last month by Carlisle magistrates, who sent her to the crown court to be sentenced.

Mr Evans said the evidence against her was conclusive.

In mitigation, defence barrister David Birrell said McConville was “thoroughly ashamed of herself” now that she understood the rules.

“In her particular circumstances she did not consider that she and her husband were living together in the proper sense,” he said.

“Now that the situation has been explained to her she accepts fully that she is guilty of the offences as charged.”

The court heard that McConville, whose youngest child is just 16 weeks old, is currently on maternity leave from what Mr Birrell described as “a decent job”.

Judge Paul Batty QC told her: “I don’t find it an attractive argument that because your husband was working abroad – and no doubt earning good money – it entitled you effectively to a single person’s allowances.”

He added: “Many, many people who do not have the advantages that you have got in life manage to muddle along without committing offences such as these.”

He imposed a community order, which will see McConville supervised by probation officers for 12 months.

The judge also put her under a curfew to keep her indoors at home from 10pm to 5am every night for the next four months.

He said the curfew started late enough so as not to interfere with her children’s evening activities.

But he told her: “It will mean you won’t be able to go out and enjoy yourself.”

The court was not given any details of Mr McConville’s job.

First published at 10:51, Saturday, 25 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk