Community sentence for benefits cheat Emma Yates (From York Press)

Community sentence for benefits cheat Emma Yates

8:55am Friday 12th March 2010 in

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A BENEFIT cheat will have to carry out community service after falsely claiming more than £2,500.

Emma Yates, of Carr Street, Selby, claimed the cash from Selby District Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after failing to notify them that her circumstances had changed and she had been living with her husband, from whom she had previously separated, from December 2008.

The council and the DWP launched a joint investigation after being alerted to irregularities with Yates’s claim. The 35-year-old was interviewed under caution, after which her housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support entitlement were all reviewed.

This showed she had been overpaid £979.43 in housing benefit, £265.79 in council tax benefit and £1,297.36 in income support. Kelly Hamblin, prosecuting for the council, told magistrates Paul Yates had moved in to the house in Carr Street in about December 22, 2008.

Although he moved out the following February, he returned in May 2009.

In mitigation, the court was told Yates’s claims for benefits were legitimate when they were first made and Paul Yates has been coming and going from the property for a period of time. The magistrates were also told Yates had pleaded guilty to the fraud at the earliest opportunity.

They ordered her to do 120 hours community service. She will also have to pay back the cash she received from her future benefits.

A council spokesman said anyone who suspected benefit fraud could contact the local hotline on 01757 292230 or report it online at selby.gov.uk