Council to write off nearly £250k debt owed by notorious benefit swindler
Christina Pomfrey was jailed in 2020 after scamming more than £1m from Halton and Oldham Councils
Halton Council looks set to write off more than £240k owed to it by a notorious benefit swindler following her death.
Runcorn grandmother Christina Pomfrey was jailed in 2020 after scamming more than £1m from Halton and Oldham councils as well as the Department for Work and Pensions.
A court heard at the time how at the height of the fraud, Pomfrey was claiming £13,000 a month and splashing out on holidays, clothes and cosmetic treatments.
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 admitting 34 charges including fraud, false accounting and making or supplying articles for use in frauds and was jailed in 2020 for three years and eight months at the age of 65.
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.
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.