A stroke victim has been acquitted by a court after she was wrongly accused of cheating benefits officers out of thousands of pounds.
Former nursery nurse Marissa Messenger, who was forced to give up her job after a massive seizure in 2009, was investigated by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) after it emerged she had been given nearly £14,500 of benefits to which she was not entitled.
The 53-year-old went on trial accused of knowingly failing to notify the DWP about her occupational pension while she was receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) over a six year period between June 2011 and August 2017.
After two days of evidence she was found not guilty.
Mrs Messenger always insisted she had called the DWP to report her pension, recalling being forced to listen to “trumpet fanfare” hold music for 45 minutes.
The government department said there was no record of her phone call.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, suggested his client may have been the victim of “human error” on the part of the DWP.
Not a deliberate act
Sheriff Alison Michie described Mrs Messenger as a credible witness.
She told her: “There is no dispute that you received additional ESA to which you were not entitled as a result of becoming entitled to an occupational pension.
“The question for the court is whether you knowingly failed to notify the DWP and if this was a deliberate act on your part to conceal this additional income.
“Having heard the evidence, I cannot find that conclusion.”
She said: “I take account of your yearly tax returns, which disclose openly all of your income.
“I accept that you believed that you were making full disclosure and in those circumstances I find you not guilty.”
Recalled ‘trumpet fanfare’
Mrs Messenger, of Aberargie, applied for ESA after she suffered a major stroke which left her out of work in 2009.
She told the trial she remembered phoning the DWP to alert them of her Dundee City Council occupational pension.
“I remember the call because they had a trumpet fanfare when I was on hold for about 45 minutes.
“I assumed that because I had phoned them, they knew about it and it was their responsibility to take action.”
DWP fraud investigation officer Susan Swan told Mrs Messenger the department had no record of her phone call.
Interview
Mrs Swan, 56, interviewed Mrs Messenger at Perth’s Job Centre in August 2018, after HMRC highlighted a “discrepancy” in her account.
During the interview, which was played in court, Mrs Messenger said she was “really upset about all of this, because I do appreciate how serious this is.”
She added: “I’ve not done this intentionally.”
Mr Holmes pointed out that while the DWP claimed there would have been a record of Mrs Messenger’s phone call, the same department apologised to his client for a later delay in processing paperwork caused by an “administrative error”.
He said: “It was a human error. They happen all the time.”
Mr Holmes added: “There must be doubt in the court’s mind that this was a deliberate act by Mrs Messenger.
“If someone was trying to conceal these payments, they would not submit it in their tax returns.”
The court heard Mrs Messenger has been repaying the £14,476 of benefits in monthly instalments since the error came to light.
