Grandmother, 65, is jailed for falsely claiming over £1 MILLION in benefits after lying that she was wheelchair-bound and blind - before being caught going for a walk and reading the paper
- A grandmother has been jailed for three years and eight months for fraud
- Christina Pomfrey, 65, stole over £1million after falsely claiming benefits
- She claimed to be blind and wheelchair-bound to trick the authorities
- However, she was caught going for walks unaided and reading a newspaper
A grandmother 'grossly exaggerated' her disabilities to falsely claim more than £1 million in benefits over 15 years, a court has heard.
Christina Pomfrey, 65, lied she was totally blind and wheelchair-bound, but surveillance by investigators showed her driving, going for a walk unaided while reading a newspaper and collecting her grandchildren from school.
When confronted with the evidence, she said she was relieved to be finally caught and claimed she had given the money away to charity and those in need.
However, she also admitted she had spent cash on numerous holidays, cosmetic treatment and clothes.
On Monday, Pomfrey, from Runcorn, Cheshire, was jailed for three years and eight months after she pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to multiple counts of fraud, false accounting and making or supplying articles for use in frauds.
Sentencing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Judge Sophie McKone told her: 'You grossly exaggerated your disabilities in pretending you were completely blind and that your multiple sclerosis was of such severity that you required significant and costly care.
The grandmother from Palacefields, Runcorn, was caught on camera shopping despite claiming to be totally blind and confined to a wheelchair'This was money to which you were not entitled. Over 15 years, you stole £1 million from your fellow citizens. Money which would have gone to people who justly deserved it, money that could have gone to schools and hospitals.
'This was a determined benefit fraud on a substantial scale. You claimed you spent money on others - whether or not that is true, you spent some money on holidays, beauty treatment, clothes, restaurant and hotels.'
The court heard that despite Pomfrey's admission of guilt and remorse to investigators in December 2017, she continued her deceit while on bail.
Pomfrey's 'staggering dishonesty' was exposed when she was spotted walking unaided and reading a newspaper. She admitted spending the money on holidays, beauty treatments and clothes
Judge McKone said: 'You made further dishonest benefit claims, lying again about your personal circumstances and your health which resulted in more money being paid out. Your behaviour is - frankly - staggeringly dishonest.'
The judge noted Pomfrey, of The Glen, Palacefields, had a traumatic childhood which continued into her adult years as she suffered abuse 'at the hands of people who should have cared for you'.
As a result, the defendant had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and also suffers from disassociative disorder, where she appears to adopt different personas to cope with past trauma.
Pomfrey, left, was sentenced alongside her daughter Aimee Brown (centre), who was handed a suspended jail sentence for laundering £80,000 of her mother's ill-gotten gains. The pair are pictured outside Minshull Street Couty, Manchester, today
Her daughter, Aimee Brown, 34, from Runcorn, received a 18-month jail term, suspended for two years, after she laundered £80,000 of Pomfrey's cash into her bank account and kept more than £70,000 for herself.
She was 'hoodwinked' by her mother and had no knowledge of the extent of her lies, but had entered a guilty plea to money laundering because she did not act on her suspicions, the court heard.
The court was also told the full amount of £1,010,090 fraudulently claimed in various benefits had been spent by Pomfrey.
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