A SOUTHAMPTON mum who dishonestly claimed more than £10,000 in benefits has been spared jail.

Fraudster Tina-Marie Drury told benefit bosses she was the unemployed single mother of a teenage daughter.

She pocketed more than £13,000 in job seekers allowance and housing benefit over the next 17 months.

But the 35-year-old was found to be receiving financial contributions from her partner, who was in work.

Yesterday Drury was given an eight month suspended sentence at Southampton Crown Court.

Daily Echo:

The court heard how Drury made the initial housing benefit claim to Eastleigh Borough Council in March 2016.

Prosecutor Victoria Hill said Drury also made a claim to the Department of Work and Pensions for job seekers allowance (JSA) the following day.

Ms Hill said Drury renewed her JSA claim the following March and her housing benefit in the May of 2017.

Ms Hill said that despite claiming the benefits, she was “sharing a common household” with her partner Phillip Budden.


In interview, Drury told benefit bosses that she did not live with Mr Budden, but admitted he had contributed to the household and stayed with her “once or twice a week”.

Mitigating, Susan Ridge told the court that Drury had not lived a “lavish lifestyle” on the benefits, instead using them to cover the cost of living.

She added that Drury had begun to pay the money back.

Judge Christopher Parker QC sentenced Drury, who pleaded guilty to four counts of benefit fraud, to an eight month prison sentence, which he suspended for 18 months.

He said: “(Your 15-year-old daughter) is the primary reason for suspending this sentence.

“This is not so much for your benefit, but for hers.”

Drury, of Linacre Road, Thornhill, was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.