A COUPLE from Crewe who fraudulently pocketed more than £44,000 in benefits after pretending she was a ‘hard-up single mum’ and he was just her landlord.

Now the pair have narrowly escaped serving a jail sentence and will have to pay back in full the money they fraudulently claimed during more than five years of deceit.

Lisa Podmore, 32, and Paul Hodkinson, 30, both of Larch Avenue, Basford, Crewe, appeared before Chester Crown Court on October 2.

They were both sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.

The Court heard that Podmore claimed housing benefit, Council Tax benefit, income support and child tax credits from September 2008, saying she was a lone parent with no income and had no relationship with her landlord, Hodkinson.

However, investigators discovered Hodkinson was not her landlord but in fact her partner, who was living with her and supporting her financially.

The court also heard Hodkinson had assisted Podmore to make the fraudulent claims by completing a false confirmation of rent document to support her claim for housing benefit, which listed him as the landlord for her property.

In actively maintaining the false claims for benefits, Podmore and Hodkinson admitted fraudulently pocketing £44,143 in benefits over a period of five-and-half years.

In addition to the suspended jail sentence, Podmore and Hodkinson were ordered to complete 150 hours’ unpaid work and will now have to repay in full the benefits they fraudulently claimed.

Cllr Les Gilbert, Cheshire East Council cabinet member in charge of finance, said: “This is a shocking case and the successful prosecution of this pair reinforces the message that benefit fraud will not be tolerated by this authority.

“We are an enforcing council and committed to ensuring that such offenders are brought to justice.

“This case highlights that cheating the system only leaves perpetrators much worse off in the end. We proactively investigate cases like this to prevent fraudsters taking money away from those who genuinely need help.”

Since January 1 this year, Cheshire East Council has uncovered more than £980,000 in benefit fraud and prosecutions have led to 51 criminal convictions.