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Mum-of-three scammed £70,000 in benefits in less than four years

Mum-of-three scammed £70,000 in benefits in less than four years

A Dundee mum who managed to scam £70,000 in benefits in less than four years has been told she faces jail.

Sarah Alison raked in the huge sum between April 2009 and March 2013 the equivalent of £17,500 a year.

She was initially charged with defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions out of more than £130,000 over almost 10 years, but the Crown accepted her guilty plea to the lower amount.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Alison, a mother-of-three, claimed she was a single mother living alone at an address in Linksfield, Tayport, in north-east Fife.

In reality, her live-in partner, Graham Thomson was in full-time paid employment.

That meant she was not entitled to the income support, council tax and housing benefits she claimed from the DWP and Fife Council.

In all, she raked in £60,000 in income support and £10,000 in housing and council tax handouts.

Alison, 34, of St Fillans Road, Dundee, pled guilty on indictment to two charges under the Social Security Administration Act.

Defence solicitor Anne Duffy asked for sentence to be deferred to enable her client to “make arrangements”.

“I’ve advised her that custody is almost inevitable in these proceedings,” the agent said.

“There are three children including one aged 14, and she is that child’s main carer.

“He has severe learning difficulties, ADHD and other conditions and is highly dependent on her.”

Sheriff George Way deferred sentence, warning Alison that she should not be “misled” by the granting of bail.