Pair swindled taxpayers out of £47,044

Wednesday 15th July 2009, 11:09AM BST.

A Shropshire couple who swindled taxpayers out of £47,044 in benefits they were not entitled to have been given suspended sentences, told to pay costs and given unpaid work orders.

Paul Thomas, 43, and Lynne Jones, 37, both of Purbeckdale, Dawley, Telford, failed to notify benefits bosses of a change in their circumstances over a five-year period, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday.

The couple, who have three children together, each admitted a charge of benefit fraud at a hearing in June.

Mr Andrew Keogh, prosecuting for the Department for Work and Pensions, said Jones started claiming income support in 1991. But he said she and Thomas failed to tell the DWP they were living together from March 2003 onwards.

Recorder Benjamin Nicholls handed both Thomas and Jones an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.

He ordered the pair to pay costs of £125 each and gave Thomas 250 hours’ unpaid work and Jones 100 hours’ unpaid work plus a 12-month supervision order.

View more: Dawley news, Telford news.