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Daily Mail
April 25, 2014
A judge has condemned ‘ludicrously low’ guidelines for sentencing welfare fraudsters after handing one woman a punishment that would see her clear the debt only if she lived to 105.
Judge Beverley Lunt’s comments came after she ordered mother-of-two Louise Coulter to pay back £40,000 in fraudulent benefits.
Coulter, 38, can afford to pay only £10.95 a week, meaning it would take her a total of 67 years to repay the taxpayer.
Judge Lunt also said the guidelines fail to act as a deterrent, as people assume they will escape prison if they are convicted of fiddling the benefit system.
She handed Coulter a sentence of 20 weeks in prison, the most severe punishment she could impose under current guidelines.
Coulter could be free after serving only ten weeks behind bars if she maintains good behaviour, and that could be further reduced to just five weeks if she is deemed suitable for an electronic tag.
Judge Lunt said: ‘The guideline sentences set down by the Sentencing Council, which judges must follow, are so ludicrously low that everyone thinks the sentences will automatically be suspended.’
She told Coulter it was unlikely that the stolen money would ever be recovered, and said the payback scheme was ‘clearly not acting as a deterrent’.
Custodial terms for those who plead not guilty can range between 12 weeks and 18 months depending on the amount of money stolen and the length of time over which the fraud took place.
Those who plead guilty, saving the cost of a trial, can expect reductions of around a third on their jail terms – and will often serve just half of their reduced sentence.
Burnley Crown Court heard Coulter claimed income support, housing and council tax benefits.
She signed a form declaring that she was single and said she had no income other than child tax credits and child benefits.
But Julian Goode, prosecuting, said surveillance was carried out on her home which showed her 45-year-old partner John Wilcox going to and from the address.
His car was usually found either parked outside the house or at his workplace at a logistics firm.
Further investigations found Mr Wilcox’s car was insured at that address and the couple had a house insurance policy together. Neighbours said Coulter bragged of buying new widescreen televisions, a three-piece suite and a gas cooker worth around £1,000.
