A woman will miss part of her sister’s nuptials after a sheriff refused to lift her curfew for the night.
Una Downton begged to be allowed an extension to the order to allow her to attend the evening part of the event on August 12.
The 50-year-old had previously admitted carrying out a £17,000 benefit fraud over the course of two years.
A court-imposed order means that she must be within her home on Perth’s Dunkeld Road from 7pm, but at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday she requested a one-off extension to allow her to stay at the Grampian Hotel until 11pm.
Solicitor John McLaughlin told the court: “The wedding ceremony is at 3pm, followed by a meal, with the evening guests arriving at 7.30pm.
“An extension would allow her to spend time with family who have travelled up for the wedding.
“It is a significant time in the life of her sister and family and friends are coming from all over the country.
“She accepts she has to be punished but it’s a one-off, short extension for one evening.”
However Sheriff Lindsay Foulis was not swayed by the plea, telling Downton she could have been jailed given the amount of money involved.
He said: “Whilst I accept the reason behind the application, the fact of the matter is the offences to which you pled guilty were serious and might have resulted in you receiving a custodial sentence.
“If the result is missing some of your sister’s wedding that’s the consequence of the order which followed the offence.
“That maybe brings home the seriousness of the offence to you.”
Downton previously pled guilty to fraudulently claiming £12,000 in employment and support allowance and £4,800 of housing benefit by telling the Department of Work and Pensions that she was separated from her husband and lived alone with her son.
Both offences took place at her home address between June 7 2014 and March 24 2016.
