A sheriff blasted a five-year delay in bringing a Fife benefits cheat to court and lightened her sentence as a result.
Mother-of-three Julie Young from High Valleyfield was caught claiming more than £27,000 in unwarranted benefits.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard she was first interviewed in 2018 and brought to court in August 2022.
Sheriff Susan Duff said: “I am quite appalled.
“A woman has had this hanging over her head for five years and the vast majority is at the hands of prosecutors in Scotland.”
She said the fraudulent sum involved met the custody threshold but said: “I am taking into account the delay.
“I had considered 300 hours unpaid work, modified to 200 as a direct alternative to a custodial sentence but I take into account very strongly the fact you have lived with this for five years and three of those years have been wholly attributable to the Crown.”
She settled on 150 hours.
£27k benefits overpayment
Young, also known as Coulter, obtained £27,146 of working and child tax credits to which she was not entitled between April 6 2013 and September 6 2018.
Prosecutor Lee-Anne Barclay told the court the DWP had received an anonymous allegation 35-year-old Young’s husband lived with her.
An investigation began and the DWP obtained a copy of their marriage certificate, which showed they married in June 2014 and were both living at the same Kinloss Court address.
Her husband’s employment and bank statements linked him to their home.
DWP surveillance work was carried out in February 2018 and Young’s husband was seen leaving at around 7.20 in the mornings and returning after work one afternoon.
Ms Barclay said, over the libelled period, Young was “in receipt of working and child tax credits on the basis that this was a single-parent household, when (her husband) was in fact residing with her and in employment.
“The total overpayment is the sum of £27,146”.
The fiscal depute said on June 6 2018 Young was interviewed but not cautioned and charged.
Sheriff Duff pointed out the DWP reported the case in March 2019 and it then took the Crown three years to take it up, with Young first appearing on petition in August 2022.
She pled guilty to being knowingly concerned in fraudulent activity and the court heard she has been paying the money back for years.
Money getting paid back
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said the “unconscionable period of time” the case has been hanging over his client’s head is significant mitigation.
He said Young, who is in full time employment, agreed to repay the DWP at £100 per month and the balance of repayment currently stands at around £13,000.
The solicitor said Young has been “too frightened” to claim benefits of any sort since 2018, with the exception of child benefit, because she “did not want to risk getting into this sort of mess again”.
He said the likelihood is she would be entitled to tax credits.
The sheriff urged Young, now of Valleyfield Avenue, to do the unpaid work to avoid going to prison.
For more local court content visit our dedicated page or join us on Facebook.
