A MOTHER of three illegally claimed over £5,000 of carer's allowance for her disabled son while she was working because "she had bills to pay", a court heard.
Gemma Hess, 34, of Haile Road in Humberston, received £233.80 every four weeks between October 2010 and September 2012 as the main carer for her son, despite working for her partner at a Fabrications company in Grimsby.
Grimsby Crown Court heard that Hess failed to notify the Department for Work and Pensions of her employment because "she was unsure of the allowance".
Prosecuting, Joanne Jenkins said: "She did not declare her earnings because the company was in severe financial trouble and was going into liquidation in September 2012."
Ms Jenkins submitted that Hess had committed what was "essentially multiple fraud" because "she had bills to pay".
The court heard Hess, who has two severely disabled sons, had already begun paying back the £5,409.65 that she had been overpaid as a carer's allowance.
"Ms Hess was required to notify the Department of Work and Pensions if she started work," said Ms Jenkins.
Defending, Michael Culshaw said Hess was a "fragile individual" who had no previous convictions and that her priority "is simply her children".
"The claim was not fraudulent from the outset," he said.
Mr Culshaw said a punishment of a community order would prevent Hess from properly caring for her children.
Judge David Tremberg handed down a six-week prison sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered Hess to pay £535 costs.
He told her: "The public purse is stretched beyond its limit and decent people who pay their taxes are rightly appalled by those prepared to perpetrate a fraud of the state and a fraud upon them.
"It is totally unacceptable for people to try to help themselves to monies from the public purse in order to assist themselves.
"This is not a victimless crime, offences like this are not difficult to commit but are difficult to detect and prosecute."
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