Problem Gambler Claims £32,000 in Benefits

A benefit cheats with a gambling problem has been found guilty of fraudulently claiming £32,000.

Evelyn Griffiths, 63-years-old, originally made legitimate claims but failed to notify the government department that she had come into money.

£20,000 in employment allowance and £12,000 in housing benefit was claimed between 2014 and 2018. It is now known that during 2017 she had as much as £37,000 in her current account but continued to collect her welfare payments.

Griffiths’ solicitor, Kevin Jones, told the court how she had no recollection of how the funds had been spent. He added that Griffiths had a gambling problem for a short while and mental issues caused her an issue with hoarding.

Griffiths pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly failing to notify the government of a change in circumstances while claiming benefits.

Judge Peter Barrie said to the court:

“Other people who were working hard and paying taxes in order for you to receive those benefits. I’m quite sure you knew perfectly well that you had significant savings and that would be relevant. It’s not clear where that came from, but at one point you had £37,000 in the bank.” 

Griffiths received a custodial sentence of 29 months that was suspended for one year.

It is unclear just where the savings suddenly came from but looks like she had managed to run up a few big wins and deposited the lot into her bank.

Quite perversely, Griffiths is now paying back the fraudulent benefit claims with yet more benefits but this time what she is really entitled to.