Benefits fraudster who lived in Spain for five years has been jailed

 

BENEFITS cheat who lived a luxurious life in Spain thanks to the British taxpayer has been jailed for 18 months. Debbie Williamson bought a villa with a swimming pool in Valencia, which she named after her daughter Jessica, funded by the £42,000 she milked from the system. Williamson, 45, also helped run a bar and deposited £30,000 in a Spanish bank in a five-year period while living abroad but claiming benefits as if she was living in the UK.  At Sheffield crown court, Judge Alan Goldsack told Williamson: “There you were enjoying ­yourself in Spain while people here were having tax taken off them, which was going to fund your lifestyle.” The court heard Williamson falsely claimed £42,558 while in Spain. She was overpaid £28,558 income support, £11,142 in housing benefits and £2,100 council tax benefit between 2003 and 2008. A probe began in October 2008 after an anonymous tip-off that she was living with husband Ian in Spain and running a bar. Williamson, of Brierley, South Yorks, sobbed throughout the hearing. She admitted 10 charges of benefit fraud.