Benefit fraud charges against woman dropped

A woman’s had benefits fraud charges against her dropped, after officials repeatedly got their sums wrong.

Sheila Margaret Creasey of Alexander Drive in Douglas appeared before magistrates at Douglas Courthouse.

The 65 year old was charged with nine counts of making false representations to obtain benefits between April 2019 and December last year.

Prosecutor Hazel Carroon told the hearing Treasury initially claimed £30,000 had been wrongly paid - first dropping the amount to £3,000 and then settling on around £2,500.

She said that amount was within the government’s powers to deal with, and offered no evidence.

Defence advocate Peter Taylor described the calculations by benefits officials as “shambolic” and “a pig’s ear”.

Mrs Creasey walked free from the court after magistrates marked the charges dismissed.