A benefit cheat who bought a £540,000 home while fraudulently claiming income support and took her family on holidays all over the world has dodged jail with a suspended sentence.
Mother-of-four Joanne Elizabeth Garratt, 34, of Queen's Mead Road, Shortlands, Bromley, South-East London continued claiming she was a single-mum despite living with her on-off partner and unlawfully pocketed £31,554.67.
She pleaded guilty to obtaining a money transfer by deception, namely income support payments, between April 12, 2005 and August 29, 2008 and was sentenced to eighteen weeks imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid community service work.
Croydon Crown Court Recorder Nicole Williams told Garratt: "You have accepted you have defrauded the State. It is not a stateless body, but is made up ordinary people who pay taxes. These are the people you have defrauded."
Garratt, (pictured) mother of Liam, 14, Lauren, 12, Henry, 6 and a nine-month old boy failed to inform the Department of Work and Pensions she was supported by roofer Steve Eldridge, the father of the three boys.
Prosecutor Mr. Daniel Benjamin told the court that in 2003 Garratt bought a house in Sydenham, South London for £200,000 and re-mortgaged it three years later for £205,000.
On August 1, 2008 she bought her current house for £540,000, putting down a £110,000 deposit, claiming she had a well-paid job in her mortgage application.
Between 2005 and 2008 over £200,000 passed through her various bank accounts.
In 2006 Mercedes-driving Garratt bought jewellery items worth £3,400; £2,105 and £235 and took a £2,600 holiday to Turkey with her partner and the two older boys.
She made a return trip the next year, which cost £2,200 and also in 2007 took her children to Australia then on a £4,000 trip to the USA along with Mr. Eldridge and other family members.
"That money could not have been spent without financial support from elsewhere," explained Mr. Benjamin. "That, in part, was Mr. Eldridge's wages."
The Department's surveillance operation filmed her partner coming and going from the family home at the same time Garratt claimed to be a single-mum.
Her lawyer Mr. James Sutherland told the court: "She is beside herself with shame to find herself in the position she is in.
"The house has been put up for sale, the car has been taken back, this is a woman with many debts."
The court was told since last year Garratt has been repaying the Department at the rate of £5 per week, rising to £10 per week.
"You have shown a high-level of remourse according to the pre-sentence report," Recorder Williams told Garratt. "You have lost your good character. That in itself is a punishment.
"This offence occurred over a number of years and it is a high claim with a high loss to the state."
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