Upper Largo woman sentenced for £17,500 benefits scam

A Fife woman fraudulently pocketed more than £17,500 of disability benefit over a seven-year period.

Benefits cheat Alison Preston, of the Stables Flat, Strathairlie, Upper Largo, stole the money while holding down a number of jobs over the period, including working as a hospital porter and a housekeeper.

At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday the 51-year-old admitted keeping up the charade at various address in Leven, Huntly, Perth and Upper Largo between March 30 2006 and March 19 2013.

She pled guilty to failing to report that there had been improvements in her ability to manage her declared incapacities/disabilities which would have resulted in a reduction in the care, supervision and assistance she required to perform everyday tasks.

These were tasks which she regularly performed on her own and thus obtained £17,588.45 of disability living allowance to which she was not entitled.

Preston’s solicitor said her client, now a housekeeper, was first assessed as eligible for disability benefit in 1997 but the charge runs from 2006 when she started work.

Sheriff Max Hendry sentenced her to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.