Benefits cheat falsely claimed £17,000 despite inheriting £100,000 from late father

Prosecutor Jo Fox told the court that Evans' initial benefit claims were completely legitimate.

However, when her father died and she received the inheritance, her capital exceeded the threshold for claiming benefits.

The total amount wrongly claimed was £17,215.95 after Evans received more than £100,000 from her father's estate.

"Her only explanation for not declaring it was she never really thought about it," Fox told the court.

In mitigation, Paul Kay told the court that Evans had never been in trouble with the law before.

The court heard that Evans had informed the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) during an interview about her father's death in April 2021 and the inheritance she received.

Kay also revealed that Evans had suffered a stroke in July 2021, which had left her incapacitated.

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After considering the case, magistrates fined Evans £200 and ordered her to pay £85 costs and an £80 surcharge.

The case comes just days after it was revealed a gran stole £1million in an elaborate scam before dying and leaving British taxpayers to foot the bill.

Halton Council will be forced to write off more than £240,000 in debt owed by Christina Pomfrey, who was imprisoned in 2020, and left no estate from which the council could recover the funds.

The ruling executive board will be informed that the money, which was fraudulently obtained over a 15-year period, had been spent on holidays and day-to-day living expenses.

At the height of her fraudulent scheme, Pomfrey was claiming £13,000 per month from various authorities, including Halton and Oldham councils and the Department for Work and Pensions.

The grandmother used multiple false identities and fabricated disabilities to perpetrate the fraud.

She claimed to be blind and wheelchair-bound, but surveillance by investigators caught her driving and reading a newspaper whilst walking.

The scam was described as one of the biggest social security frauds ever prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

In 2020, Pomfrey admitted to 34 charges, including fraud, false accounting and making or supplying articles for use in frauds.

She was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison at the age of 65.

Following her conviction, Halton Council issued debt invoices in an attempt to recover the stolen funds.

The council was recently informed of Pomfrey's death, making recovery of the debt impossible.

The total debt owed to Halton Council amounted to £240,095, comprising several elements.

The largest portion consisted of £188,825 in ineligible direct payments.

Housing benefit overpayments accounted for £50,375 of the total sum.

The remaining £895 was attributed to council tax arrears.