Bradford woman receives hefty benefit fraud fine

A woman has been severely reprimanded by a judge after falsely claiming over £50,000 in benefits. Umira Khan, a 39-year-old from Bradford, had no previous conviction, and the judged calculated it would take her over 200 years to pay back the money in full.

Despite securing a job at Elizabeth Arden, Khan claimed benefits over a six year period between 2008 and 2014. She hadn’t notified the relevant authorities of her change in circumstances, which affected her eligibility to the support. During that time frame she received payments for council tax, housing benefit, employment and support allowance, and incapacity benefit. This is an area of law which Benefit Fraud Solicitors specialises in.

It transpired that after leaving her marital home due to domestic violence, Khan went to live in the same property as her sister, and used the cash from the benefits to top up her income, which came from 12 hours a week work.

The money taken from the public purse will be given back by Khan in £20 instalments every month, as she does not have financial assets significant enough to contribute to the repayment.

According to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, the judge told Khan: “That public purse is stretched as it is, and needs to be kept for people who genuinely need it. You will never be able to pay all of this off.”

Khan received a two years suspended sentence of six months, as well as being put under a 9pm to 7am curfew. She was told to pay £85 in court costs, along with an £80 surcharge, and was given a medium level activity requirement of 30 days to complete.

Her solicitor had pointed out to the court that there was no evidence to suggest that Khan was “living the high life” with proceeds from the benefits. He also underlined the fact she suffered from depression and has several chronic ailments.