Woman hid £27,000 in savings to claim cash

A mother-of-three from Kidderminster has been convicted of carrying out a £24,000 benefits fraud. Christine Turner claimed cash despite secret savings of £27,000.

She received income support, housing and council tax benefits.

The maximum savings allowed by claimants is £6,000, prosecutor Mr Trevor Meegan told Worcester Crown Court. She denied the charges but a jury found 41-year-old Turner, of Arley Close, Rifle Range estate, guilty of making false claims amounting to £24,000 between November 2001 and November 2007.

Judge Patrick Thomas QC granted her bail and adjourned the case for reports. The defendant made claims on the basis that she was a jobless single parent with no income.

But she held an ISA in her own name which eventually amounted to £27,534, said Mr Meegan. She had declared savings in May 2002 of £1,633 but in September 2001 had taken out the ISA, investing £6,792 in it.

She made regular deposits of up to £1,000 and accrued interest of up to £1,233 a year. Turner told investigators the ISA was for her mother to send her grandson to university.

She claimed to have no access to the ISA.