Benefit cheat claimed for 11 made-up children

A BENEFIT cheat falsely claimed almost £17,000 by lying about 11 fictitious children when she was only 24.

And a sheriff who warned Lisa Watson she faced jail if the cash was not repaid was astonished to learn she had used winning horse bets to repay 2,000.

Watson, now 28, told HM Revenue and Customs officers that she had 11 children, aged from one to 13, in a bid to fraudulently claim 16,787. She is now repaying the cash.

Tain Sheriff Court was told she carried out the scam when she had only one child - for whom she did not claim.

Sheriff David Sutherland told Watson: "I intend to have this money repaid in full. I want to make it quite clear that if the repayments are not maintained, then it will be inevitable that a lengthy custodial sentence will be imposed."

Watson, of Alness, Easter Ross, admitted making fraudulent claims to obtain working tax credits and child tax credits between July 2006 and May 2007.

She also admitted claiming to work for Manpower between November 2006 and January 2007, when her employment ended in May 2006.

Sheriff Sutherland had previously deferred the case for clarification on how much money had been repaid.

Watson's defence lawyer, Diane McFarlane, said she had been paying at least 40 a week and added that a sum of 2,000 had been repaid in the past month.

On inspecting the statements, the sheriff inquired about a transaction involving 2,500 at Ladbrokes. The lawyer told a bewildered looking Sheriff Sutherland: "Her partner occasionally bets on horses and was successful to get 2,500, of which 2,000 was paid toward the tax credit."

Watson was ordered to make minimum payments of 50 a week.