A former GMTV presenter wept yesterday as she was ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds in falsely claimed housing benefit.
Louise Port, 38, who is originally from Golspie in Sutherland, was hit with a bill for more than £100,000 and branded a blatant liar during the hearing at Southwark Crown Court.
The ex-girlfriend of former Aberdeen and Scotland football manager Craig Brown still owes Westminster City Council another £10,878.46 in unpaid council tax.
Earlier this year, she was given an 18-month suspended sentence and ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work after being convicted of “deliberate deception” over four years.
The former Golspie High School pupil, who took part in the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2012 London Olympics, wrongly received £76,157.14 in housing benefit between September 2006 and August 2011.
Yesterday, Judge Anthony Pitts ordered her to pay back the full sum – plus an amount to cover inflation – to Westminster City Council.
The shamed sports reporter, who appeared in court with cropped grey hair and a trouser suit, cried and dabbed her eyes throughout the short hearing.
Fiona Dunkley, defending, said the sale of Port’s flat in west London would be used to meet her debts, adding: “She has other liabilities that she clearly has to pay.”
Port’s father, Campbell, appeared in court to argue that he owned more than a quarter of the property as he had helped pay for the purchase.
However, Judge Pitts rejected his pleas, saying the agreement had no legal standing and he was not entitled to stop the sale of the house by claiming a percentage was his.
The judge said he found it very difficult to trust a word of what Port said.
“It is quite clear to me that she lied whenever it suited her to the jury – with considerable affront – and, despite her sad personal problems, the jury agreed,” he said.
“It seems clear that this was a father gifting (£25,000) to his daughter, when she was only 20 years old, starting in London.
“I do not believe – again – what I heard from Miss Port.
“She has failed to persuade me that this was a trust in effect by agreement of her father.”
Judge Pitts ordered Port, of 56 Charing Cross Mansions, to pay £91,330.90 compensation to Westminster City Council, plus £15,000 legal costs.
If the compensation is not paid within six months, she could face 12 months in jail.
In 2003, Port was awarded more than £200,000 libel damages from two newspapers over an allegation that she had cheated on her then boyfriend, football boss Mr Brown.
She previously appeared in court as an alleged victim in 1998 when she accused another ex-boyfriend of beating her, but the charges against the man – a fellow sports reporter – were dismissed.
Earlier that year, she ran 150 miles through the Moroccan desert for Macmillan Cancer Relief. She was also caught up in a World Cup riot in Marseilles.
Ms Port began her broadcasting career in the north. She presented a regular Saturday afternoon sports programme on Moray Firth Radio in Inverness.