Daughter was paid more than £10,000 carer's allowance she wasn't entitled to
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Tracey Sowerby, of Knottingley near Pontefract, failed to inform the Department for Work and Pensions when she got a part time job working as a cashier at a Lidl supermarket, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Sowerby, 54, was paid a total of £10,461 she was not entitled to over a period of more than three years from November 2015 to February this year.
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Hide AdProsecutor, Catherine Duffy, said Sowerby, of Racca Green, stated she was not working before she started receiving carer's allowance in August 2010.
The court heard Sowerby signed a declaration saying she would notify the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if her circumstances changed.
Miss Duffy said Sowerby started working part time at a Lidl supermarket in October 2015, but did not inform the DWP.
The court heard Sowerby told police she knew she had to notify the DWP of a change in circumstance, but didn't think she had to report part time work.
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Hide AdSowerby, who has no previous convictions, admitted failing to declare a change in circumstance.
Probation officer Mick Berry told the court Sowerby, who has five children and 14 grandchildren, feels a "deep sense of shame and embarrassment."
Mr Berry said Sowerby had used the carer's allowance money to travel to Hartlepool three times a week to support her elderly father, who was suffering from a number of illnesses including cancer.
Mr Berry said Sowerby's father died in April.
Mr Berry said: "Had she known any different she would have stopped receiving it."
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Hide AdMr Berry added: "She is not a wealthy woman. She went immediately to a bank to get a £10,000 loan and can repay it with that."
Recorder Andrew Dallas handed Sowerby a six week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.
And he imposed a two month electronically monitored curfew between 11pm and 6am on Tuesdays and Saturdays and between 8pm and 6am on all other days.
Recorder Dallas told Sowerby: "I'm quite satisfied that it's highly unlikely that I will see you here again and that the first appearance at your age is a matter of considerable shame to you.
"You have borrowed the money to repay this straight back and that reflects well on you."