A benefits cheat who claimed thousands of pounds for houses in the UK while she ran a property business in Spain has been forced to sell-up and repay her ill-gotten gains.
Louise Jones claimed disability benefits for almost a decade after moving to Alicante to live with her boyfriend Bruce McHardy, who she later married.
She fiddled further money in housing benefits by claiming to live in homes he owned in Hull and Cleethorpes. But she was caught out after taking to Facebook to boast about her Costa Blanca lifestyle.
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Jones also posted pictures of her engagement and wedding to the property developer on social media and described herself as managing director of his Spanish property business, Grimsby Live reports.
Jones, 53, of Forder Meadow, Moretonhampstead, Devon, received a six month suspended jail sentence in 2019 but was also pursued under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
She has now been ordered to repay £92,500, which represents her share of the sale of her late mother’s home and cash from her divorce settlement.
Judge Timothy Rose ordered her to pay £7,500 from the settlement to cover interest on the money. She has already paid £85,000 raised by the sale of the house in August last year.
Jones told the judge that she is now living on Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments because she is unable to work because of severe arthritis. She said she had used up almost all her savings in moving to rented properties since selling her mother’s home.
The sale had been delayed by the Covid pandemic and had fallen through several times before it was completed successfully. She paid the money to satisfy the Proceeds of Crime order and thought that she had fulfilled all her obligations.
Her relationship with McHardy ended when her benefits payments dried up and she returned to Devon on her own. They were divorced in April 2021 and she is still chasing him for some of the £16,000 settlement but is due to receive £7,500 next week.
Mr Martin Salloway, defending, said Jones had not realised she would be liable to interest on the money she owed or that it would be calculated at a rate set at eight per cent.
He said: ”It may seem a bit rough, but I have explained to her that it is the law and it is designed to operate in a robust way.”
The original hearing was told that Jones claimed disability benefits while working in Spain and housing benefit on homes which McHardy owned at Chandlers Court, Victoria Dock, Hull; and Blundell Avenue, Cleethorpes.
Jones claimed a total of £46,867.14 in disability and housing benefits and employment support allowance between 2007 and 2016 and £33,000 in severe disability allowance, but was entitled to claim that even when living in Spain.
Checks showed she had spent more than half of each year abroad and Facebook posts featured her as Louise McHardy, managing director of McHardy Spanish Properties.
She was unable to tell investigators the names of any of her neighbours in Hull and North Lincolnshire.
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