Benefit cheat's £6,000 false claim from Harrow Council (From Harrow Times)

Benefit cheat's £6,000 false claim from Harrow Council

4:39pm Thursday 26th November 2009 in

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A FORMER benefits worker ripped off more than £6,000 of taxpayers money after giving birth to her third child.

Harrow Council believes single mother Charlotte Medley, 33, used her inside knowledge from a previous job assessing benefit claims for the Department of Work and Pensions to carry out the fraud.

After leaving that post she got another at the Carphone Warehouse but failed to declare the job, instead claiming income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

She was given a six-month suspended sentence at Harrow Magistrates Court yesterday after admitting to three counts of fraud.

When interviewed under caution in October 2008, she said: “I started the job after I just found out that I was pregnant. I knew that I was going to be facing hardship again as a single mother.

“I was in rent arrears and it was just for basics and necessities. I'm totally ashamed of what I've done. I'm not proud of it.

“It's just, I knew from the first two how hard it was for me being on my own with the kids and I knew that with the third one, it would be the same situation as 14 years ago.”

She was also given a six month curfew between 9.30pm and 7am every day.