A woman claimed more than £13,000 in benefits without revealing she had thousands of pounds of her own in two bank accounts, a court heard.

The five-year scam netted Karen Hird a total of £12,002 in housing benefit and £1,794 in Council Tax relief, Bradford Crown Court was told. Hird, 39, of Upper Seymour Street, Barkerend, Bradford, pleaded guilty to four charges of dishonestly claiming benefit by failing to declare savings and capital.

She was placed under a 12-month community order including 180 hours' unpaid work for the community, and will also have to pay £1,833 costs.

Passing sentence, Recorder Felicity Davies said the offences amounted to "thorough and persistent misconduct" over a considerable period of time.

"This was sustained dishonesty," she added. "Many other claimants would be astonished at the thought of you making these claims when you had got £30,000 in the bank." Freddy Apfel, prosecuting, said the false claims were made between September 2000 and December 2005.

Hird filled in application forms stating that she had a NatWest bank account, but failed to reveal she also had two accounts with the Halifax.

One of those had a balance of £30,000 in it at the time of the last offence.
Louise Azmi, mitigating, said Hird was ashamed of what she had done and the conviction would cause her problems in gaining employment in the future.



Yeh, nice damn punishment she got, 12-month community order including 180 hours' unpaid work for the community, and will also have to pay £1,833 costs, so she steals £13K but only has to pay back £1,833 leaving an O/S balance of £11,167 which i presume she can spend all to her self!! marvelous why don't we all do it.

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