A Ballasalla woman has admitted a benefit fraud which saw her receive more than £7,000 she wasn’t entitled to.

Abbey Cara Louise Gilman failed to declare her work as a taxi driver, and her work for a sports club on the island, as well as a change of address.

She will be sentenced in summary court on March 26 after a probation report has been prepared.

Prosecuting advocate Kate Alexander told the court that 31-year-old Gilman had been claiming Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA).

On September 22 last year, an anonymous allegation was made that she was not living at her stated address, at Clagh Vane in Ballasalla.

Checks were made and a report said that no-one appeared to be living at the address.

Investigators obtained bank statements which showed Gilman had been receiving money from a taxi company and a sports club on the island, which she had not declared.

Access was also gained to her energy supply details for the property and this appeared to have reduced greatly after January 2023.

Gilman was interviewed by the Department of Health and Social Security and claimed that she had only worked a few hours a week for the taxi company and been paid £40 weekly.

She said that it cost her £20 to fill up the cab, but claimed that she always declared the money.

Regarding the money going into her account, she said that this had been benefit payments which she had collected, then paid into her account.

When quizzed about the sports club payments, Gilman said she only did volunteer work for them, but had received some payment for judging a competition.

Asked about the address, she said that she had been living at her mother’s house because a toilet had flooded and she had reported it but the department had not sorted it out.

However, investigations found that this had been reported and fixed over three years ago, in 2020.

As the interview was ending, Gilman admitted that the sports club payments were not for competitions.

Ms Alexander said that the benefit claim had been fraudulent from the outset and had resulted in overpayments of £1,672.92 in Income Support and £5,366.54 in JSA, a total of £7,039.46.

However, the prosecutor said that the case was suitable to remain in summary court for sentencing.

Defence advocate Sara-Jayne Dodge asked for a probation report to be completed before sentencing.

Bail continues with a condition to contact probation and co-operate in the preparation of the report.