Husband and wife both guilty of benefit fraud

A Wincanton woman found guilty of benefit fraud has been fined after an investigation led by South Somerset District Council.

Trudy Chubb, 40, of Rickhayes was sentenced on Monday 5 September and must pay a £250 fine, a £15 victim surcharge and £150 towards the district council's costs.

She must also repay the full £1,400 of fraudulently claimed housing and council tax benefit payments. She had failed to declare that she was working.

Incredibly, her husband Brian Chubb, 51, of the same address was sentenced for benefit fraud in July this year because he had not disclosed tax credits and had made a false statement about the amount of hours his wife was working, whilst he was jointly claiming benefits with Trudy.

Mr Chubb has also previously been convicted for similar offences.

Mr Chubb must carry out 120 hours of unpaid community work within 12 months and was ordered to pay £500 costs, though he has appealed the outcome of the hearing. Both cases were heard at Yeovil Magistrates Court.

Cllr Ric Pallister, SSDC Leader said: "Sometimes genuine mistakes are made, but where claimants deliberately set out to dishonestly deprive the taxpaying public of money to which they know they are not entitled, it will be pursued.

"Benefit fraud is theft from the community. It takes money away from those who can ill afford it and South Somerset District Council will not tolerate it.

"We are responding to justifiable public demands in using all of the techniques available to us in order to identify benefit fraud and bring each case to justice."

Photo: J D Mack, Flickr