Nelson mum's £57k benefit fraud

4:15pm Thursday 15th May 2008

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A MOTHER-of-four who cheated the state out of almost £60,000 in a five-year benefits scam has walked free from court.

Former Nelson newsagent Asifa Hassan, 51, was claiming weekly handouts even though her husband was working on and off.

Hassan, who claimed she filled out the forms with the help of her husband and at his instigation, got £57,255.13 her family was not entitled to, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The defendant and her husband could face losing their £90,000 family home as the Department for Work and Pension wants the cash back, although the property is now in their daughter's name.

A proceeds of crime hearing will be held on June 23.

Hassan, whose claim for income support was legitimate at the start due to ill health, was given a suspended jail term after a judge said she was "not a very well woman," and described the circumstances of the case as very unusual.

Recorder Geoffrey Lowe said the public purse was very stretched and by committing the offence Hassan had taken money from those who deserved it. She should have made sure the authorities were not mislead, he said.

But, he told her: "The responsibility for your position is not yours alone.

"If you and your husband had told the truth you would have received some form of benefits.

"It enables me to approach it as if the state has been defrauded but by a substantially smaller amount."

The judge added he was satisfied the proceedings had had a profound effect upon the defendant and she must have been petrified about what might happen.

Hassan, of Reedyford Road, Nelson, admitted failing to promptly notify a change in circumstances to the DWP between December 2001 and November 2006 and asked for 17 offences to be considered. She was given 42 weeks in prison, supended for 18 months, with 18 months supervision.

Neil Bisarya, prosecuting for the department, said the defendant lived with her husband and two of their children, now aged 16 and 19.

She received income support from July 1997 on the basis her husband did not work and there was no other income going into the household.

The claim was legitimate from the start but her husband was employed as as a security guard over four periods during the five years, earning up to £1,200 a month depending on the hours worked.

Mr Bisarya said when the defendant and her husband were interviewed by the DWP, both accepted he had been working. Hassan's husband claimed it was some form of mistake that she had not declared it.

The prosecutor said: "The department is not saying the money was used to fund an extravagant lifestyle."

Mr Bisarya added the DWP would be pursuing repayment of the cash as the defendant had a "clear realisable asset," in her house.

Philip Holden, defending, said the defendant was ashamed and terrified about what would happen to her.

He added: "She was very much swayed by the views of her husband."