A former minister who resigned from her Angus parish in disgrace following an affair with a married church elder has been sentenced for benefit fraud.
Helen Douglas (46) pleaded guilty to obtaining £3428.06 of council tax benefit she was not entitled to but claimed she had not intentionally misled staff at Perth and Kinross Council.
She was placed on probation for 18 months following a brief appearance before Sheriff Michael Fletcher at Perth.
Initially accused of stealing £18,255 between November 13, 2006, and February 21, 2010, Douglas, whose address was given as Cupar Road, Ceres, Fife, admitted fraudulently obtaining council tax benefit.
She admitted pretending to Perth and Kinross Council staff at Pullar House that she did not have capital assets worth more than £16,000, making her eligible for payments.
She pleaded not guilty to gaining £14,826.96 in housing benefits and this was accepted by the Crown.
The Crown told the court the issue surrounded the house in Ceres which depute fiscal Robbie Brown said had been bought by Douglas in 2002, prior to claiming benefits.
He said the house had been sold to her for £74,000, adding that “it was clearly a not inconsiderable” property and asset.
Mr Brown accepted that Douglas had made full repayment of the £3428.06 in July of last year.
Solicitor John McLaughlin disputed the Crown’s claim over the house, saying it had been “gifted” to her.
He said Douglas was adamant she had never lived at the home, explaining further that she no longer had any interest in the house.
Mr McLaughlin said his client had been forced to sell the house to “meet her indebtedness” after the roof fell in while she was undertaking charity work in Africa.
He told the court, “Ms Douglas has gone through a significant number of well documented difficulties over the past 10 years or so, many of which have caused her significant distress.
“She did not set out to break the law but should perhaps have been clearer in her information to staff at the council department.”
Mr McLaughlin continued, “She is not currently claiming benefits. In fact she is so terrified of a mistake that she does not claim those benefits to which she would be entitled.
“She is a lady of good character who has learnt a hard lesson.”
Douglas declined to comment at the court but in a rambling statement handed to The Courier claimed her crime had been “unintentional”.
It read, “Perhaps you realise that people often plead guilty to things they have not done for a variety of reasons.
“Perhaps because they have no more resources to put up a defence, or they are not well enough to do so, or they are not given sufficient warning that they must attend court, when they work in remote areas with limited communication networks, or they are being bullied or threatened by other people.
“Perhaps their ‘crime’ was unintentional. All of these reasons apply to me.”
Douglas hit the headlines after quitting the pulpit following the 1997 scandal, which threatened to tear apart the Angus Glens parishes of Glenisla, Kilry, Lintrathen, Airlie, Ruthven and Kingoldrum, for which she was an associate minister though she disputes the details.
Then known as Helen Percy, Douglas was initially suspended and then resigned over her affair with a married church elder. A string of legal challenges followed as she took the Kirk to an employment tribunal in 1998 for unfair dismissal.
She reached a four-figure out-of-court settlement from the Church of Scotland, accepting an undisclosed sum, believed to be £10,000, as a “nuisance value” settlement and a further £10,000 towards her legal expenses.
She had initially been claiming £300,000 for lost income, pension and housing benefits, illness and damages for injuries to her feelings.