8 July 2004

BELFAST BENEFIT CHEAT CAUGHT

A Belfast woman, Rosemarie McKeown, was convicted recently for wrongly claiming benefits from the Social Security Agency.

The 54-year-old woman, of Havana Gardens, Belfast, was fraudulently in receipt of Housing Benefit. The overpayments amounted to more than £20,000 over a period of 5 years.

Magistrate Hart imposed a sentence of 6 months, suspended for 12 months and ordered that Ms McKeown pays back the £20,845 she falsely claimed to the Social Security Agency.

This is the latest of a series of prosecutions brought by the Agency in its drive to clamp down on benefit fraud.

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