Night-time curfew for fraudulent claims

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A CURFEW has been handed to a Batchley woman after she admitted to falsely claiming close to £13,000 in benefits.

Jodie Browning was also given a five-month community order by Redditch Magistrates’ Court after admitting to continuing to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit by failing to declare she had started work and for allowing her husband to claim incapacity benefit incorrectly by hiding the fact she was working from him.

The 33-year-old who currently lives at Hawthorn Road was found to have overclaimed by more than £12,797 following an investigation by Redditch Borough Council and the Department for Work and Pensions after the council received information to suggest the claim was incorrect.

Magistrates told her they had originally considered a high level community order but had taken the details of a pre-sentence report into consideration as well as her early guilty plea and the fact she works full-time as the main breadwinner for the family.

The curfew is between the hours of 7pm and 6am, seven days a week and Browning was also ordered to pay £100 towards the prosecution costs.

The overpaid benefits are being recovered by the council and the DWP through their own methods.

Suspected fraud should be reported by e-mailing benefitsfraud@redditchbc.gov.uk or calling the investigation team on 01527 534011.