Former newspaper columnist guilty of benefit fraud

A Fife psychic has pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining £8,000 of housing benefit.

Kathleen Coutts, 48, of Mars Gardens, Wormit, appeared before Sheriff Charles Macnair at Cupar Sheriff Court and admitted that between February 16 and October 6 2012, she failed to notify Fife Council she was in receipt of earnings from part-time work and received housing benefit of £8,000 to which she was not entitled.

Coutts, a former newspaper columnist, had her sentence deferred until May 15 for the preparation of a criminal justice report and restriction of liberty assessment.