A Blairgowrie woman illegally claimed £40,000 of unemployment benefits while working at a Dundee jewellery store.
Suzanne Gillman swindled taxpayers for seven years while employed as a sales consultant at Murraygate-based Beaverbrooks.
The 65-year-old repeatedly lied to cover up her scam, telling benefits officers she got too scared if she “meets people she doesn’t know”.
She also made excuses after failing to turn up for assessments.
Gillman, of Reform Street, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted failing to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about a change in circumstances between March 27 2011 and May 11 2018.
She will be sentenced next month.
Years of deceit
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson told the court the DWP ordered a review of Gillman’s entitlement in November 2018.
It was discovered she had received an overpayment of £40,000 since her return to work at Beaverbrooks after an absence due to ill health.
Gillman appealed against the ruling in April 2018, claiming she suffered from mental health problems and was not aware she was being overpaid.
Ms Wilkinson said that the accused had originally completed a claim form for employment allowance in January 2010.
Gillman stated she was unfit for work and did not know when she would be well enough to return.
In her ESA1 form, she claimed she had no other income.
The prosecutor said Gillman completed a follow-up form in October 2013 – more than two years after returning to Beaverbrooks – claiming “she can’t meet people she doesn’t know without feeling too anxious or scared.”
In April 2014, Gillman told the DWP she had not attended a work assessment because she had not been given an appointment.
She also stated she was going to move to England to stay with family “in the next month or so, as she cannot carry on without them.”
When she failed to attend another assessment in 2016, she claimed she had already contacted the department to arrange a home visit.
The DWP received a letter from her doctor requesting a home assessment more than a week later.
Authorities tipped off
Ms Wilkinson said: “The Department for Work and Pensions received intelligence on September 5 2017, which indicated the accused was working for Beaverbrook.
“Departmental records were checked and there was no record of the accused declaring any work during her claim to benefit.”
She told the court enquiries were made with Gillman’s employers who confirmed she had been working as a sales consultant since July 2003.
She had returned to work a period of sickness in March 2011, bosses said.
Gillman was initially working part-time but was later working 40 hours a week.
Ms Wilkinson said her work record showed she had only taken one week off for mental health issues.
“As a result of this information, the accused’s claim to employment and support allowance was suspended,” the fiscal depute said.
Interviewed
The court heard Gillman had been interviewed about her claims several times between 2009 and 2015.
She said she had to give up her job at Beaverbrooks due to ill heath but never told them she had actually returned to work.
She also turned down voluntary work to help build up her self-confidence, claiming she “was so unsure about herself she felt she was going to fail.”
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, defending, said: “Ms Gillman suffers from a number of health issues and that is one of the reason it has taken so long to get to where we are now.”
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC deferred sentence for background reports.
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