Shameless benefits cheat illegally claimed £14,000 while living in Greece

Shameless benefits cheat illegally claimed £14,000 while living in Greece Dawna Bird, who is from Alvaston, Derby, spent more than two years in Greece while claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a sum which amassed to £14,000 A benefits cheat who fraudulently claimed more than £14,000 in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) while living abroad has been spared jail. Dawna Bird, 66, admitted, on the first day of her trial, fraud by failing to disclose information. A court heard the woman had been required to tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if she was out of the country for more than 28 days, as it affected her entitlement to PIP. But instead she spent two years and eight months in Greece, while continuing to claim the benefit. While there, Bird had advertised her services as a childminder on Facebook. Her husband, Harry Bird, had already been sentenced, prosecutor Stefan Fox said. He had claimed around £70,000 in extra benefit payments and received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. And Bird, from Alvaston, Derby, also dodged jail. Her five-month sentence was suspended for one year. Sitting at Derby Crown Court, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: "The evidence was pretty overwhelming and in the end you have seen sense. You are now paying the money back in smaller amounts." Stefan Fox, prosecuting, said Bird first claimed PIP in February 2019 and her application was approved, reports Derbyshire Live. She was then informed she must notify the DWP if she left the UK for more than 28 days, but failed to do so despite spending long periods living in Greece. Mr Fox said: “Evidence came to light that she was living outside the UK and an investigation began. There were periods when she flew to and from Greece and in total was more than 1,000 days during which she was obligated to tell the DWP. “There are screen shots from Facebook accounts where she was saying she was planning to move abroad and Facebook posts that she was in Greece and advertising as a child minder. “The defendant returned to the UK in August 2023 and was invited to participate in a voluntary interview where it was put to her she had been out of the UK for extensive periods of time but she denied that she was living abroad.” Bird’s barrister, Dan Scothern, said: “The claim was initially legitimate and Mrs Bird is now having the funds removed at source to repay the sum.”