33-year-old's advocate admits she made 'serious error of judgement'
A Maughold woman who wrongly claimed more than £28,000 in benefits she wasn’t entitled to has been told she buried her head ‘in the sand’.
Victoria Jane Ross, of Ballure, has been sentenced at Douglas Courthouse after admitting making false representations to obtain benefits between 31 March 2021 and 7 October 2022.
The 33-year-old failed to declare that her circumstances had changed after making claims for Income Support.
The court heard Ross hadn’t told Treasury that her partner, at the time, was living with her whilst she claimed.
In total she was overpaid £28,923.14p.
Ross’ advocate told the court it was a ‘serious error of judgement’ but maintained her claim for support was not fraudulent from the outset.
She is now paying back the money at a rate of £20 per week from her benefits.
Sentencing Ross High Bailiff Jayne Hughes told her it would have been easy to alert Treasury to the change adding: “Instead you buried your head in the sand and accepted the overpayment.”
Ordering her to do 120 hours of community service she added the money ‘could have and should have’ been used to benefit someone making a legitimate claim.
Ross must also work with the probation service for two years and pay £100 in prosecution costs.
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