Snorkelling benefits cheat Linda Hoey ordered to pay back £81k she pocketed illegally
A mother-of-four who went snorkelling while illegally pocketing £81,000 in disability benefits has been told: “You must repay the lot.”
Linda Hoey went to the Maldives and Egypt and holiday photos revealed the lie she had been living for 15 years while claiming to be barely able to walk.
The racket saw her collect £65,244 of disability living allowances by exaggerating the effects of arthritis and other complaints.
This allowed her to receive an exemption pass under false pretences and rack up £16,588 worth of free travel on the M6 Toll Road as she travelled to work at PartsWorld in Orbital Way, Cannock.
At a proceeds of crime hearing at Stafford Crown Court Hoey, 38, was ordered to repay £81,812.05.
She must also pay £1,000 costs.
Mr Jason Pegg, prosecuting, told the hearing that Hoey had total assets of £185,000 comprising mainly of the family’s house and a narrow boat, which she intended to sell.
Mrs Marion Smullen, mitigating, said Hoey’s current income was £109.65 per week and that her husband’s small business had completely folded due to him becoming her carer and the pressures of the case.
She said: “She had a severe operation in 2015 so any property they have is the house and the canal boat which they are going to sell.”
Judge Johnathan Gosling told Hoey, of Talland Avenue, Tamworth, she has three months to to pay up or serve three years in jail in default.
She was unanimously found guilty by the jury of fraudulently misrepresenting her benefit claim between 2001 and 2015 and misusing an exemption pass for the M6 Toll Road between 2004 and 2015. She had deliberately exaggerated the effects of arthritis and other complaints it was accepted she suffered from.
She had claimed it took her four minutes to walk as many metres and alleged she could not perform simple household chores or even get dressed without assistance, and needed a walking stick at all times and help to climb stairs. In fact she had worked full-time at PartsWorld for 17 years.
She was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years with a six-month night time curfew.
