D Jamieson tele news 29/10 court. Dundee Sheriff Court.
A 46-year-old Dundee woman who obtained more than £30,000 in benefits by claiming she was a single parent when she was living with a partner was sentenced to 12 months in prison at the city’s sheriff court.
Sharon Buchan, of Camperdown Road, was caught when her partner Ian Craig applied for a taxi licence, giving her address as his home, the court heard.
Buchan appeared on indictment and admitted that between April 23, 2006, and January 7, 2010, she failed to report a change in her circumstances when claiming income support and that she committed the same offence when claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit between April 23 and December 13, 2009.
The Department for Work and Pensions interviewed Buchan in January 2010 and she admitted that she had been living with Mr Craig for most of the time since moving to that address in 2006.
She received £17,495 in income support and £14,337 in housing benefit and council tax benefit.
Buchan’s lawyer Kevin Hampton said, “She is not trying to minimise her culpability.”
