A BARNSLEY couple have both been sentenced to six months' imprisonment - after pleading guilty to benefit fraud and claiming in excess of £45,000.
Beverley Allott, 51, and Paul Allott, 54, of Cumberland Road, Hoyland, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on October 28.
In total they received £45,313.31 in benefits overpaid between January 2004 and May 2012, to which they were not entitled.
Beverley Allott pleaded to 12 counts and Paul Allott to 13. All 18 counts were pleaded to by at least one if not both of the defendants.
His Honour Judge Lawler QC, sentencing the pair, expressed that they were of previous good character and entitled to receive credit for their timely guilty pleas.
However, he said not only were these offences persistent, but they were over a long period and the dishonesty took many forms during that time.
He added they were both motivated by financial gain.
Taking into account that they were now paying the overpayment back to the authorities, but being of an opinion that only a custodial sentence was appropriate, he sentenced both Paul Allott and Beverley Allott each to six months' imprisonment.
