A government worker who stole £1,000 in benefits while working in the social security office has been jailed for eight weeks.

Michelle Burt, of St Marks Road, Braaid, was distraught and sobbed loudly as she was led away from the dock after High Bailiff Jayne Hughes passed sentence.

As we have previously reported Burt, a 46-year-old social security administration officer at the time, admitted an offence of fraud by abuse of position.

She set up a benefits claim in relation to the Manx Earnings Replacement Allowance (MERA) in a fictitious name but had the money paid into her husband’s account between April 23 and May 14.

The allowance was introduced from April 6 this year and provided an income of £200 a week to people who have either been laid off or made redundant from their employment, or have lost their self-employed work, since March 2. It reduced to £100 a week from August 3.

An online application system was put in place.

However, it was said a number of claims had been flagged since the benefit was introduced.

One such claim, which was made in the name of Bradinski, with an address of Kerroo Coar, Peel, was found to have no national insurance number linked to it.

claim

Records showed that the MERA benefit for the Bradinski claim was being paid into an account in the name of Kevin Burt, the husband of Michelle Burt, and that she had been processing the claim.

The Bradinski account was created on April 23 by Michelle Burt and £1,000 had been paid into it, despite it not being a valid claim. Payments were set to continue until June 28 and would have amounted to £2,400 by then.

On May 14 Burt was suspended from her job and on June 10 she was arrested.

When interviewed she admitted setting up the MERA account but said she didn’t know why she did it. Burt said that her husband knew nothing about the fraud and that she would pay the money back.

Defence advocate David Clegg said that Burt had brought a cheque for £1,000 to court to repay the money.

Mr Clegg said that the money had not been spent and that there had been no loss to the public purse.

’It is a particularly baffling offence,’ said Mr Clegg. ’Three minutes of madness and that was it. She believed she set up one payment but then other payments came out.

’It was always completely doomed to failure. The claimant and the national insurance number do not exist. They were always going to be flagged by the system. Anyone doing this from their own computer to their husband’s account was doomed to fail.

’It’s fair to say irrespective of any penalty imposed today no-one is going to punish Mrs Burt more than herself.’

Mr Clegg went on to say that Mr Burt had also lost his job as a result of the offence after he was called to his employer’s home and told to sign a letter of resignation after the story had appeared in the papers.

investigation

He continued: ’Mrs Burt has voluntarily resigned and co-operated with the investigation. It would be difficult to imagine a defendant with greater remorse. One of the worst things has been coming to terms with the fact she has done something she never believed she was capable of.’

Mr Clegg also asked the court to consider the article eight human rights of Burt’s teenage daughter.

’Mrs Burt is suffering particularly with her mental health,’ said the advocate. ’She would struggle in prison more than other defendants. She has had no involvement with any criminal regime at the age of 46. The risk of her reoffending is practically non-existant. She’s going to have a lot of difficulty finding further employment.’

Burt was said to have told probation that she had seen other people getting away with fraudulent claims and decided to have a go herself.

High Bailiff Mrs Hughes told Burt: ’You were in a position of authority when you could have done something to stop them but you decided to join them.

’This has been a time when there has been confusion and everyone has been at odds. It must have been clear to you that we all have to behave honestly and do the right thing towards each other.’

The High Bailiff also ordered Burt to pay back the £1,000 by September 22.