Northumberland benefit cheats pay price in court

Jun 18 2009 The Journal

HOLIDAYS to Florida, New Zealand and Spain were among the luxuries enjoyed by Northumberland benefits cheats. Three different fraudsters were this week sentenced at Hexham Magistrates’ Court after cheating taxpayers out of a total of almost £45,000.

Firstly, Anne Robinson, 58, of Leaside, Halton-Lea-Gate, obtained more than £8,000 by repeatedly telling Tynedale Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) she was single and had no income.

In fact she was married to her HGV driver husband Norman Klitzke, and the pair enjoyed the holidays as well as splashing out on a new car and caravan.

Earlier this week, she was sentenced to a three month community order after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to three charges of dishonestly claiming Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support and Housing and Council Tax Benefits. She was also given a curfew from 8pm to 7am every night for two months, which will be monitored by an electronic tag.

In a separate case the court heard how Susan Gittins of The Showfield, Haydon Bridge, was overpaid £10,909 by the council and £5,580 by the DWP between December 2004 and May 2007.