Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Mum claimed £17,000 in benefits fraud to care for seriously ill child

Mum Nicola Sweeney
Mum Nicola Sweeney

A young mum with a seriously ill child has been spared a jail sentence for a £17,000 benefits fraud.

Nicola Sweeney lied to the authorities for more than two years, claiming she was a single parent struggling to bring up four children on her own.

But the 27-year-old and her family were actually being supported by her long-term partner Michael Robb, who had a job at the time.

Yesterday, Sweeney, of 56 Greig Court, Aberdeen, appeared at the city’s sheriff court for sentence.

She had previously admitted taking a total of £16,756.37 in income tax, housing benefit and council tax benefit she was not entitled to.

Sheriff William Taylor deferred sentence on the first offender for background reports.

High Court guidelines state that a prison sentence should be mandatory for anyone found to have fraudulently claimed more than £10,000 in state benefits.

However, if “exceptional circumstances” arise then the sheriff is entitled to use his discretion.

Sweeney’s agent, solicitor Christopher Maitland, argued that his client was one of those “exceptional” cases and asked Sheriff Taylor to allow her to keep her liberty so her children would not lose their mum.

The court heard that Sweeney’s youngest son, who is aged just nine months, suffers from spina bifida.

Mr Maitland said that it was the intention of the doctors to operate on the child’s spine at the end of the summer, which would require him to be in hospital for up to a month.

Mr Maitland said that the operation could potentially leave her son paralysed and that if Sweeney was locked up her son would have to go through this difficult time alone.

The court heard that although Sweeney still remained with her partner he had now been made redundant.

Mr Maitland said that Mr Robb did not play a large part in raising the children and the running of the household on a daily basis.

Sheriff Taylor told Sweeney: “I would like you to be under no misapprehension, people who gain public funds to which they are not entitled, which you did for almost two years, can expect to go to prison.”

However, he said that he took into account the circumstances she found herself in and ordered her to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work within the next year.