Six convicted at Belfast court

Six people were convicted at Belfast Magistrates’ Court today for claiming benefits they were not entitled to.

A 26 year old Belfast man was fined £150 and given a six month prison sentence suspended for two years for failure to declare employment while claiming Incapacity Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance and Housing Benefit totalling £1,728.

A 47 year old woman was given a 12 month probation order and ordered to pay £34 court costs for failure to declare employment while claiming Income Support and Housing Benefit totalling £7,573.

A 33 year old East Belfast man was fined £400 and ordered to pay £34 court costs for failure to declare employment while claiming Jobseekers Allowance and Housing Benefit totalling £2,451.

A 28 year old West Belfast woman was given a six month probation order and ordered to pay £25 court costs for wrongful encashment of Income Support totalling £298.

A 31 year old man was given 80 hours community service and ordered to pay £25 court costs for wrongful encashment of Income Support totalling £274.

A 54 year old Antrim Road woman was given 75 hours community service and ordered to pay £40 court costs for failure to declare employment while claiming Income Support and Carers Allowance totalling £8,339.

All are also required to repay the money wrongfully obtained to the Social Security Agency.

This brings to 263 the total number of successful prosecutions this year.