Benefit cheat who won £154k on lottery spared jail

A benefit fiddling lottery winner has been spared going to jail even though she has been found guilty of theft.  The guilty woman - named in the Daily Mail as Sandra Bellamy - won £154,000 playing the National Lottery back in 2006, however she continued to claim financial support from various agencies including housing benefit, income support and council tax benefit.  The total that is believed to be involved in the benefits scam is £14,814.11, what makes the crime worse is that the woman had three properties in Bournemouth worth over half a million pound, a privately educated child, a £30k divorce settlement, and received a reported £3k per month in rental fees for her property portfolio and had £16,000 of savings prior to her big lottery win.

Six month jail term suspended

The judge, Samuel Wiggs imposed a suspended sentence on the thieving National lottery winner saying that “A few years ago this would have resulted in a custodial sentence, but guidelines have changed”. The changes to the sentencing guidelines according to the Mail resulted in her receiving a six month jail sentence suspended for two years plus a 200 hour community service order. In the 52 year old lotto winner’s defence Bellamy had started to pay back some of the cash that she had previously claimed, according to an article in the local newspaper ‘ she was repaying £50 a month to the DWP and Bournemouth council but still owed £13,200’.

Did lottery win make a better life for Ms Bellamy?

Winning the lottery surely should not only bring a healthier bank balance but also a world away from money problems.  Most people who think about winning the lottery would use the money to make life a little better for themselves, their family and friends, they would not think first of how to help themselves ………. to tax payers cash!