Benefit cheat gran who swindled £1m for holidays, garments and wonder remedies in considered one of UK’s greatest safety frauds dies owing council £240,000
A benefit cheat grandmother who swindled £1million to splash out on holidays, clothes and beauty treatments has died owing a council £240,000.
Christina Pomfrey, from Runcorn, Cheshire, scammed money from Halton and Oldham councils as well as the Department for Work and Pensions in what was one of the biggest security frauds the UK has ever seen.
She was jailed for three years and eight months aged 65 in 2020 after a court heard she had used false identities and claimed to be disabled in order to swindle the money over a 15-year period.
Her lies included claiming she was blind and needed a wheelchair, but surveillance by investigators showed her driving and going for a walk while reading a newspaper.
Following what was described as one of the biggest social security frauds to be prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), she admitted 34 charges including fraud, false accounting and making or supplying articles for use in frauds.
The total amount she owed Halton was £240,095 which included ineligible direct payments of £188,825, housing benefit overpayments of £50,375 and council tax arrears of £895.
Christina Pomfrey (pictured) scammed money from Halton and Oldham councils as well as the Department for Work and Pensions in what was one of the biggest securitty frauds the UK has ever seen
Her lies included claiming she was blind and needed a wheelchair, but surveillance by investigators showed her driving and going for a walk while reading a newspaper. Pictured: Surveillance footage of Pomfrey walking unaided
Following her conviction the council raised debt invoices to claim the money back, but the authority was recently informed of Pomfrey’s death.
Halton’s ruling executive board will be told later this week the debt will have to be written off due to Pomfrey having no estate to claim the money back from.
A report to the executive board said: ‘Following the individual’s passing, the council continued to attempt to recover the debts from the individual’s estate.
However, we have been informed that the fraudulently obtained monies had been used to fund day-to-day living expenses, holidays etc. over many years.
‘As a result, there are no assets remaining in the individual’s estate from which the council could obtain payment of the outstanding debts. The situation is the same for Oldham Council and the DWP.’
The report said that as the debts can no longer be recovered, approval is sought to write-off the outstanding debts, which will be funded from the council’s own bad debt provision – a pot of money it earmarks every year to cover money it may not recover from debtors.
