A woman in the UK who claimed over £1,000,000 in benefits illegally has been sentenced along with her daughter.
Ms Pomfrey.
65 year old Christina Pomfrey is said to have used friends names to claim benefits, and lie about disabilities such as blindness, and being wheelchair bound, in an attempt to receive more money from the government.
When investigators finally showed her the evidence, and told her she was in trouble, she was said to be relieved but admitted she spent all the money – giving it away to charities and those in need. She also admitted to spending some of the money on luxuries like holidays and clothes. The evidence she was presented with included proof of her not being blind and totally wheelchair bound, as investigators witnessed her first hand picking up her grandchildren from school.
Yesterday, she plead guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in jail.
Sentencing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Judge Sophie McKone told her: “You grossly exaggerated your disabilities in pretending you were completely blind and that your multiple sclerosis was of such severity that you required significant and costly care.
“This was money to which you were not entitled. Over 15 years, you stole £1 million from your fellow citizens. Money which would have gone to people who justly deserved it, money that could have gone to schools and hospitals.
“This was a determined benefit fraud on a substantial scale. You claimed you spent money on others – whether or not that is true, you spent some money on holidays, beauty treatment, clothes, restaurants and hotels.”
And, despite appearing remorseful back in 2017 when she was still being investigated, she continued taking the money whilst out on bail.
Her daughter, 34 year old Aimee Brown, was also given a 18 month sentence suspended for 2 years after she took £80,000 of the money from her mother, and kept £70,000 for herself. She entered a plea deal to get the sentence she did.
The final total which was told to the court is that Pomfrey spent £1,010,090 of illegally taken benefit money.
