A WOMAN who fraudulently claimed more than £30,000 in benefits has been spared a prison sentence.
Marie Denise Smith was told that benefit fraud could result in time in jail. But Jurats in the Royal Court instead sentenced her to 180 hours of community service. She was also given an 18-month probation order.
The court heard that Smith (42) had been working in The Entertainer toy shop and Autism Jersey at different periods over two and a half years, and had also moved in with a former partner.
But on four different occasions she failed to inform the Social Security Department of changes to her income or living arrangements and received a total of £30,678 to which she was not entitled.
Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, said that in November 2019 she had shown the department a letter from her then-employer, The Entertainer, confirming that her job was to end on 28 December.
However, she resumed working there between April and July 2020, without notifying the department. Then in November 2021 she told them she had started working at Autism Jersey that month, and her first pay date would be 25 November. In actual fact she had been working there since July that year.
She also said she had moved in with her former partner in October 2022, when she had in fact moved in October the previous year. And she did not inform the department of a pay rise from Autism Jersey.
All these changes affected her entitlement to income support.
“She said she was so bad at reporting changes in circumstances,” Advocate Sette said. He called the offences “an affront to all who pay their contributions” and said that “by the finest of margins” he was recommending a non-custodial sentence of 210 hours of community service instead of jail.
Advocate Alexander English, defending, said that at the time of the offences Smith had been “overwhelmed by extremely challenging and upsetting life events”. He explained that she had had some mental-health problems, saying: “It’s part of her condition to be disorganised.”
He added: “The monies weren’t to fund a lavish lifestyle. The prosecution’s conclusions are, we say, too harsh.”
The court heard that Smith had paid back £3,630 of the total £30,678 overpayment so far but still owed £27,048. Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae said: “These are not victimless crimes. All taxpayers are victims of fraud.”
He told Smith: “You should have had no doubt about your duty to inform the department of changes in your circumstances. “You received significant benefit to which you were not entitled over a long period. The offences are so serious that you could not complain if the court were to impose a prison sentence.”
But he said the Jurats accepted she had no previous convictions, had pleaded guilty at her first appearance in the Magistrate’s Court and was considered at low risk of reoffending, so decided the case was “sufficiently exceptional” for a non-custodial sentence.
Jurats Ronge and Entwistle were sitting.
