Antrim mother who admitted benefit fraud of £101,000 has been spared jail

A Co Antrim mother of two who admitted benefit fraud costing the British exchequer almost £101,000 has been spared jail.

Diane Majors (34), of Shanlea Drive, Larne, has been ordered to do 100 hours of community service and is making a repayment of £10 a week.

Prosecution lawyer David McClean told Judge Brian Sherrard that Majors had failed to disclose she was living with her partner and lied when she said he was not the father of her children.

The court heard Majors claimed benefits totalling £62,117 in income support and £38,000 in housing benefit.

Major, who admitted three counts of making a false declaration with a view of obtaining benefit and two counts of failing to declare a change of circumstances in June 2002 and January 2013, accepted she mislaid authorities when police produced copies of her children’s birth certificates.

Defence counsel told the court his client has so far repaid £1,422. While the weekly payment of £10 may not seem significant it “represents a huge chunk” of her current benefits. He also said Majors, whose children are 15 and nine, may still have been entitled to benefits if she had declared the truth.

Judge Sherrard, sitting in Antrim Crown Court, said Majors appeared to have limited understanding of the significance of her crimes. “These offences impact on the entire community because they put additional pressure on already stretched social welfare budget and public services budget. They are not to be treated lightly. They are easy offences to commit and difficult and expensive to track down.”

He added: “This is £100,000 that cannot now be spent on schools, hospitals or policing or other areas of public need.”

Judge Sherrard said sending Majors to prison would result in further significant cost to the public purse. He thought a community order would be more likely to prevent Majors from reoffending.