Benefits cheat pretended to be her sister, who was in prison

A “brazen” benefits cheat with a history of dishonesty claimed more than £7,000 by posing as her sister who was actually in prison.

Claire Cross impersonated her sister Debbie Harris and made false claims for employment and support allowance, personal independence payment, and housingbenefit over a six-month period.

Speaking at Cardiff Crown Court prosecutor Thomas Stanway said: “She claimed benefits to which she was not entitled in her sister’s name.” The court heard she was wrongly paid £7,050.40 between October 2016 and April 2017.

Prosecutors said Ms Harris was claiming benefits when she was remanded in custody at HM Eastwood Park Prison in September 2016.

She was given a prison sentence the following month and Cross contacted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to make a false claim in her sister’s name.

The court heard the defendant impersonated her sister and told the agency she had only been in custody for a week. The claim was reinstated based on that false information. Mr Stanway said the claims for all three benefits were fraudulent from the outset.

She said she did it to pay off her sister’s drug debt as people were knocking on her door and would not leave her alone. She said she could not afford to pay them.

The defendant said she bought clothes, including tracksuits and trainers, for her sister while she was in prison.

Prosecutors said she made full admissions and accepted she should not have done it. The court heard she had 58 previous offences on her record, mostly for dishonesty, including previous fraud offences.

Cross, 45, admitted three counts of fraud by false representation.

David Singh, defending, accepted she booked flights to Malaga but said they were for a relative’s funeral and not a holiday.

He suggested she had shown regret and remorse through her admissions and guilty pleas and handed the judge letters from the defendant and her sister.

Judge Nicola Jones said: “This was not just a one-off. There was repeated contact with the relevant agencies. You were brazen in your attitude.”

Cross was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for 22 months, and ordered to complete 15 sessions of a rehabilitation activity.

The judge said she would have made an order for compensation for the full amount if sufficient funds had been available.

She noted Cross was receiving benefits and would not realistically be able to make the payments within a reasonable time frame.

The defendant was ordered to pay £560 in compensation along with £340 towards prosecution costs and a £140 victim surcharge.

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